I 


DS  773    .C4  1916 

Cecil,  William  Rupert  Ernesi 

Gascoyne- ,  1863-1936 . 
Changing  China 


Changing  China 


.         .  ,  .  1917  ^  ) 


BY  THE  REV. 
LORD  WILLIAM  GASCOYNE-CECIL 


ASSISTED  BY 

LADY  FLORENCE  CECIL 


FIFTH  IMPRESSION 


D. 


NEW  YORK 
APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 
1916 


PREFACE 


Our  interest  in  China  was  first  aroused  by  a  letter 
from  an  old  school-fellow,  Arthur  Polhill,  who,  with 
heroic  self-denial,  has  spent  the  best  part  of  his  life 
in  China  as  a  missionary.  Subsequently  I  joined  the 
China  Emergency  Committee,  who  in  1907  invited  us 
to  go  out  to  the  Shanghai  Centenary  Conference. 
That  visit  led  naturally  to  a  tour  in  China,  Korea, 
and  Japan.  When  we  returned  we  found  that  great 
interest  was  being  felt  at  the  Universities  of  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  in  the  movement  in  the  Far  East ;  a 
Committee  was  formed  to  study  the  whole  question, 
which  accepted  provisionally  the  idea  of  encouraging 
the  foundation  of  a  Western  University.  Before  finally 
accepting  the  idea  it  was  felt  that  some  one  ought  to 
go  to  the  mission  centres  of  China  and  find  out  the 
opinions  of  the  missionaries  working  on  the  field, 
and  at  the  same  time  sound  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment and  see  whether  it  would  be  favourable  to  the 
scheme.  As  a  result  of  these  deliberations,  the  Com- 
mittee asked  us  in  1909  to  go  out  again,  this  time 
on  behalf  of  the  United  Universities  Scheme.  On  our 
return  it  was  suggested  that  if  we  put  our  report 
into  the  form  of  a  book  it  might  possibly  excite 
interest  in  the  whole  question,  especially  in  the 
University  scheme.  We  were  deeply  impressed  with 
two  great  facts — the  greatness  of  the  need  of  Western 
education  from  a  Christian  standpoint  and  the  vital 
importance  of  immediate  action. 

iii 


iv 


PREFACE 


Not  only  did  we  seek  information  from  English 
and  American  but  also  from  French  and  Italian 
missions  as  occasion  offered.  We  tested  and  com- 
pared this  information  by  the  information  we  got 
from  that  most  enlightened  and  able  body  of  men 
who  form  the  consular  body  in  China.  We  are 
especially  grateful  to  Sir  John  Jordan,  by  whose 
great  diplomatic  skill  both  the  position  of  England 
and  the  goodwill  of  the  Chinese  are  maintained. 

It  would  be  impossible  even  to  record  the  names 
of  all  with  whom  we  conversed,  but  our  thanks  are 
especially  due  to  the  following  friends,  not  only  for 
their  generous  hospitality,  but  also  for  the  patient 
and  kind  way  in  which  they  instructed  us  in  the 
many  difficult  aspects  of  the  Chinese  problem : — 

Sir  John  and  Lady  Jordan,  British  Legation,  Peking. 
H.E.  the  late  Chang-Chih-Tung.  H.E.  the  late  Prince  Ito. 
H.E.  Tong-Shao-Yi.  H.E.  Tuan-Fang.  H.E.  Liang-Ten-Sen. 
Sir  Robert  Hart.  Sir  Walter  and  Lady  Hillier.  Sir  Robert 
and  Lady  Breedon.  Dr.  Aspland  of  Peking.  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Avison  of  Seoul.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Baird  of  Pyeng-Yang. 
Bishop  and  Mrs.  Bashford  of  Peking.  Mr.  Blair  of  Pyeng- 
Yang.  M.  et  Mme.  Boissonnas,  French  Legation,  Peking. 
Mr.  Bondfield  of  Shanghai.  Miss  Bonnell  of  Shanghai. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bonsey  of  Hankow.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Booth  of 
Hankow.  Miss  Brierley  of  Wuchang.  Bishop  Cassels  of 
West  China.  Mr.  U.  K.  Cheng  of  Nanking.  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Christie  of  Mukden.  Mr.  Chun  Bing-Hun  of  Shanghai. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clarke  of  Newchwang.  Dr.  Cochrane  of  Peking. 
Consul-General  and  Mrs.  Cockburn,  late  of  Seoul.  Miss 
Corbett  of  Peking.  Mr.  Deans  of  Ichang.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Deeming  of  Han-Yang.  Dr.  Du  Bose  of  Soochow.  Mr. 
Ede  of  Shanghai.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Arnold  Foster  of  Wuchang. 
Consul-General  and  Mrs.  Eraser  of  Hankow.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Gage  of  Changsha.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Gibb  of  Peking.  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Gillieson  of  Hankow.  Dr.  Glenton  of  Wuchang. 
Bishop  and  Mrs.  Graves  of  Jessfield,  Shanghai.    Dr.  and 


PREFACE 


V 


Mrs.  Hawks  Pott  of  Jessfield,  Shanghai.  Consul  and  Mrs. 
Hewlett  of  Changsha.  Mr.  Hollander  of  Hankow.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Hoste  of  the  C.I.M.  Dr.  Huntley  of  Han- Yang. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jackson  of  Wuchang.  Monseigneur  Jarlin, 
Pe-T'ang,  Peking.  Dr.  Griffith  John  of  Hankow.  Miss 
Joynt  of  Hangchow.  The  late  Miss  Keane  of  Shanghai. 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Keller  of  Changsha.  Consul  and  Mrs.  King 
of  Nanking.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Lavington  Hart  of  Tientsin. 
Mr.  M.  T.  Liang  of  Mukden.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Littell  of 
Hankow.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Lowry  of  Peking.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Macintosh  of  Tientsin.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Macklin  of  Nanking. 
Dr.  Macleod  of  Shanghai.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Main  of  Hangchow. 
Consul-General  and  Miss  Mansfield,  late  of  Canton.  Dr. 
Martin  of  Peking.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Meigs  of  Nanking.  Miss 
Miner  of  Peking.  Archdeacon  and  Mrs.  Moule  of  Ningpo. 
Mr.  Mun- Yew-Chung  of  Shanghai.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Murray 
of  Peking.  Mr.  Norris  of  Peking.  Mr.  Oberg  of  Shanghai. 
Miss  Phelps  of  Hankow.  Mr.  Arthur  Polhill  of  the  C.I.M. 
Miss  Porter  of  Peking.  Bishop  Price  of  Fukien.  Deaconess 
Ransome  of  Peking.  M.  et  Mme.  Ratard,  French  Consulate, 
Shanghai.  Mr.  Ready  of  Changsha.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Gilbert 
Reid  of  Shanghai.  Dr.  Timothy  Richard  of  Shanghai.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Ricketts  of  Shan-hai-kwan.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ridgley 
of  Wuchang.  Bishop  and  Mrs.  Roots  of  Hankow.  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Ross  of  Mukden.  Miss  Russell  of  Peking.  Bishop 
Scott  of  North  China.  Mrs.  Scranton  of  Seoul.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Sedgwick  of  Tientsin.  Mr.  Shen-Tun-Lo  of  Shanghai. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sherman  of  Hankow.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smalley 
of  Shanghai.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sparham  of  Hankow.  Mr. 
Sprent  of  Newchwang.  Mr.  Squire  of  Ichang.  Mr  and  Mrs. 
Stockman  of  Ichang.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Symons  of  Shanghai. 
Taotai  J.  C.  Tong  of  Shanghai.  Taotai  S.  T.  Tseng  of 
Nanking.  Mr.  James  Tseng  of  Wuchang.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Turley  of  Mukden.  Bishop  Turner  of  Korea.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Upward  of  Hankow.  Dean  and  Mrs.  Walker  of  Shanghai. 
Miss  Wambold  of  Seoul.  Consul-General  Sir  Pelham  and 
Miss  Warren  of  Shanghai.  Mr.  Warren  of  Changsha.  Mr. 
Watson  of  Mukden.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Weir  of  Chemulpo.  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Wells  of  Pyeng-Yang.  Consul  and  Mrs.  Willis  of 
Mukden.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wilson  of  Changsha.  Mr.  Yih- 
Ming-Tsah  of  Shanghai.  Pere  Recteur  of  Ziccawei,  Shanghai, 
and  many  others. 


PREFACE 


The  following  books  were  consulted : — 

Among  the  Mongols :  by  J ames  Gilmour,  M.  A.  Annuaire 
Calendriere  pour  1909.  Appeal,  An :  by  H.  E.  T'ang-K'ai-Sun. 
Buddhism  in  China :  by  Rev.  S.  Beal.  Catholic  Church  in 
China,  The :  by  Rev.  Bertram  Wolferstan,  S.J.  Catholic 
Encyclopaedia  of  Missions.  Century  of  Missions  in  China  :  by 
D.  MacGillivray.  China  and  the  Allies  :  by  A.  Henry  Savage 
Landor.  China  in  Transformation :  by  A.  R.  Colquhoun. 
China's  Book  of  Martyrs  :  by  Luella  Miner.  China  s  Only 
Hope  :  an  Appeal  by  her  greatest  Viceroy,  Chang-Chih-Tung. 


by  Dr.  Arthur  Smith.  Chinese  Classics,  The :  Legge's  Trans- 
lation. Chinese  Empire,  The :  by  Marshall  Broomhall. 
Chinese  Shi-King :  by  Jennings.  Chinese,  The :  by  J.  S. 
Thomson.  Development  of  Religion  in  Japan :  by  Knox. 
Diplomatic  and  Consular  Reports,  1905-1908.  Early  Chinese 
History :  by  H.  J.  Allen.  Educational  Conquest  of  the  Far 
East,  The :  by  Lewis.  Education  in  the  Far  East :  by  Thwing. 
Embassy  to  China  :  by  Lord  M'Cartney.  Four  Books,  The  : 
Anonymous.  Griffith  John :  by  R.  Wardlaw  Thompson. 
John  Chinaman  :  by  E.  H.  Parker.  History  of  China,  The  : 
by  Boulger.  Indiscreet  Letters  from  Peking:  by  Putnam 
Weale.  Les  Missions  Catholiques  Fran^aises  aux  XIX.  Siecle : 
by  Pere  J.  B.  Piolet,  S.J.  Life  and  Works  of  Mencius :  by 
Legge.  Martyred  Missionaries  of  the  China  Inland  Mission, 
edited  by  Marshall  Broomhall.  Mission  in  China,  A  :  by 
Soothill.  Mission  Methods  in  Manchuria :  by  John  Ross,  D.D. 
New  China  and  Old:  by  Archdeacon  Moule.  Original  Religion 
of  China  :  by  John  Ross,  D.D.  Pastor  Hsi :  by  Mrs.  Taylor. 
Railway  Enterprise  in  China :  by  P.  H.  Kent.  Religions  in 
China :  by  Edkins.  Religious  System  of  China :  by  J.  J.  M. 
de  Groot,  vol.  v.  Sidelights  on  Chinese  Life  :  by  MacGowan. 
Taoist  Tests.  Things  Chinese:  by  J.  Dyer  Ball.  Troubles 
de  Chine,  Les :  par  Raoul  AlHer.  Uphft  of  China,  The :  by 
Arthur  Smith. 


Chinese  Characteristics : 


CONTENTS 


CHINA  IN  TRANSITION 

CHAP.  PAGE 

I.  WHAT  HAS  AWAKENED  CHINA?   3 

II.  WHAT  CHINA  MEANS  TO  THE  WORLD     ....  20 

III.  ORIENTAL  AND  OCCIDENTAL   36 

IV.  FOREIGN  RELATIONS  OF  CHINA   44 

V.  CHINESE  CIVILISATION — ITS  WEAK  SIDE          ...  56 

VI.  CHINESE  CIVILISATION  ITS  GOOD  SIDE  ...  70 

VII,  RAILWAYS  AND  RIVERS  .  .  .  .  .  .80 

VIII.  THE  CITIES  OF  CHINA  95 

IX.  OPIUM  107 

X.  THE  women's  QUESTION  121 

XI.  CHINESE  ARCHITECTURE  137 

RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA  AND  THE  MISSIONARY 

XII.  RELIGIONS  IN  CHINA    ....  .  .  147 

XIII.  CONFUCIAN  PHILOSOPHY  AND  WESTERN  CULTURE   .  .163 

XIV.  INTERVIEW  AT  NANKING   .172 

XV.  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS  IN  CHINA    .  .  .  .183 

XVI.  OTHER  MISSIONS   198 

XVII.  THE  EFFECT  OF  WESTERN  LITERATURE  IN  CHINA  .          .  207 

XVIII.  MEDICAL  MISSIONS   220 

XIX.  MOVExMENT  IN  KOREA  AND  MANCHURIA           .          .          .  232 

XX.  THE  FUTURE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  CHINA       .          .          .  242 

THE  NEW  AND  THE  OLD  LEARNING 

XXI.  EDUCATION,  CHIEFLY  MISSIONARY  .  .  .  253 

XXII.  GOVERNMENT  EDUCATIONAL  SYSTEM         .  .  .  .266 

XXIII.  THE  SAME  IN  PRACTICE  279 

XXIV.  DIFFICULTIES  IX  THE  WAY  OF  EDUCATION     .  .  .  293 
XXV.  THE  NEED  OF  A  UNIVERSITY  EXPLAINED        .          .  .  305 

XXVI.  THE  NEED  OF  A  UNIVERSITY  EXPLAINED  (contimced)  .  317 
XXVII.  CONCLUSION  .  .  .  .  .  .         .  .325 

APPENDIX 

WILL  RUSSIA  BE  REPRESENTED  ON  THE  MISSION  FIELD?  .  .  329 

INDEX   .         .  .337 

vii 


CHINA  IN  TKANSITION 


A 


CHAPTER  I 


WHAT  HAS  AWAKENED  CHINA? 

For  centuries  China  has  been  the  land  that  never 
moved.  It  had  a  political  history  full  of  wars  and 
bloodshed,  of  intrigue  and  murder;  periods  of  pros- 
perity and  enlightenment ;  periods  of  darkness  and 
desolation ;  but  the  country  remained  essentially  the 
same  country.  There  might  be  some  small  alteration 
in  its  customs,  but  China  was  distinctly  unprogressive. 
And  everybody  who  knew  China  ten  or  fifteen  years 
ago  was  prepared  to  prophesy  that  it  would  continue 
to  remain  unprogressive. 

Many  a  missionary  speaks  of  the  China  that  he 
used  to  know  as  a  very  different  land  from  the  China 
of  to-day.  It  used  to  be  a  sort  of  Rip  Van  Winkle 
land  that  had  slept  a  thousand  years,  and  showed 
every  sign  of  remaining  asleep  for  another  thousand. 
Mrs.  Arnold  Foster  told  us  that  when  she  first 
came  to  Wuchang  she  used  to  see  the  soldiers 
dressed  mediae vally,  learning  to  make  faces  to  inspire 
terror  in  the  hearts  of  the  adversary.  Monseigneur 
Jarlin,  the  head  of  the  French  mission  in  Peking, 
described  the  China  of  olden  times  by  saying  that 
in  his  young  days  all  Chinamen  had  a  rooted 
contempt  for  everything  Western.     Theirs  was  the 

3 


4 


CHANGING  CHINA 


only  civilised  land.  The  West  was  the  land  of  bar- 
barism. Now,  he  added,  the  positions  are  reversed; 
every  Chinaman  despises  China,  and  is  convinced  that 
from  the  West  comes  the  light  of  civilisation.  Arch- 
deacon Moule  tells  how  he  sailed  out  to  China  in  a 
sailing  ship,  and  found  a  land  absolutely  indifferent 
to  the  existence  of  the  West — more  ignorant  of  the 
West  than  the  West  was  of  the  East,  and  that,  when 
he  was  young,  was  saying  a  great  deal ;  and  now  he 
finds  himself  in  a  land  that  has  telephones  and 
motor  cars  and  takes  an  active  interest  in  flying 
machines. 

China  has  fundamentally  altered.  She  used  to  be 
absolutely  the  most  conservative  land  in  the  world. 
Now  she  is  a  land  which  is  seeing  so  many  radical 
changes,  that  a  missionary  said,  when  I  asked  him 
a  question  about  China,  "  You  must  not  rely  on  me, 
for  I  left  China  three  months  ago,  so  that  what  I  say 
may  be  out  of  date." 

China  is  now  progressive ;  yes,  young  China  be- 
lieves intensely  in  progress,  with  an  optimistic  spirit 
which  reminds  the  onlooker  more  of  the  French  pre- 
Revolution  spirit  than  of  anything  else.  And  this 
intense  belief  in  progress  shows  itself  at  every  turn ; 
the  Yamen  runner  has  become  a  policeman,  towns  are 
having  the  benefit  of  water-works,  schools  are  being 
opened  everywhere,  railways  cover  the  land.  One 
may  well  ask  what  has  accomplished  this  change,  what 
has  awakened  China  ? 

Perhaps,  like  many  other  great  events  in  history, 


WHAT  HAS  AWAKENED  CHINA?  5 


this  change  of  opinion  in  China  should  be  attributed 
to  more  than  one  cause.  There  are  two  chief  causes. 
One  may  be  small,  but  it  is  not  insignificant ;  the  other 
is  certainly  great  and  obvious.  The  less  appreciated 
factor  that  is  causing  the  regeneration  of  China  is 
Christianity ;  the  larger  and  more  obvious  factor  is 
the  new  national  movement. 

The  cause  of  the  new  national  movement  was  the 
sense  of  humiliation  brought  about  by  political  events 
culminating  in  the  battle  of  Mukden,  where  a  flagrant 
act  of  insolent  contempt  for  the  laws  of  neutrality  was 
felt  all  the  more  deeply  because  China  had  to  submit 
to  that  which  she  was  powerless  to  resist. 

The  events  of  the  last  few  years  are  so  well  known 
that  I  must  ask  the  indulgence  of  the  reader  in 
recapitulating  them.  China,  confident  in  the  number 
of  her  people,  which  reached  to  a  quarter  of  the 
world's  population,  attempted  to  assert  her  rights 
of  suzerainty  over  Korea  against  Japan.  She  had 
not  realised  then  that  J apan  was  no  longer  an  Eastern 
power,  where  knights  with  two-handed  swords  did 
deeds  of  valour  and  won  for  themselves  everlasting 
renown.  And  when  at  Ping-yang  the  armies  met, 
the  Chinese  General  ascended  a  hill  that  he  might 
direct  the  armies  of  the  Celestial  Empire  with  a  fan. 
He  conceived  the  battle  to  be  merely  a  small  affair, 
where  a  fan  could  be  seen  by  all  the  oflScers  engaged. 
The  result  was,  of  course,  that  the  German-trained 
Japanese  army  had  a  very  easy  victory.  The  war 
ended  in  the  taking  of  Port  Arthur  by  the  Japanese, 


6 


CHANGING  CHINA 


and  China  was  in  the  humiliating  position  of  having 
to  appeal  to  Western  countries  to  secure  her  territory. 

So  far,  however,  the  sting  of  her  humiliation  gave 
to  China  a  sense  of  resentment  against  all  foreigners, 
rather  than  a  sense  of  repentance  for  her  own  short- 
comings, and  the  missionaries  found  hostility  to  their 
work  in  every  part  of  China.  That  hostility  resulted 
in  the  murder  of  two  German  Roman  Catholic 
missionaries  in  Shantung.  The  well-known  action 
of  Germany  in  demanding  a  cession  of  territory  as 
a  punishment  for  this  murder  may  have  been  a  good 
stroke  of  policy,  but  it  has  brought  but  little  honour 
either  to  Germany  or  to  Christianity.  In  fact  it  may 
be  regarded  as  a  most  regrettable  action  from  a  mis- 
sionary point  of  view,  for  it  convinced  the  Chinese 
that  the  missionary  was  but  a  part  of  the  civil 
administration  of  a  hostile  country,  and  that  if  China 
was  to  be  preserved  from  the  foreigner,  missionaries 
must  be  induced  to  leave  the  country.  A  deep  feeling 
of  national  resentment  spread  over  the  land,  which 
was  encouraged  by  some  in  authority.  The  direct 
connection  between  Government  patronage  of  the 
anti-foreign  movement  and  the  German  occupation 
of  Kiauchau  can  be  deduced  from  the  fact  that  the 
Governor  who  was  responsible  for  the  awful  murders 
in  Shansi  had  been  Governor  of  Shantung  when 
Germany  took  Kiauchau. 

The  result  of  this  bitter  feeling  was  the  creation 
of  a  secret  and  patriotic  society  which  concealed  the 
nature  of  its  propaganda  under  a  name  with  a  double 


WHAT  HAS  AWAKENED  CHINA?  7 


meaning.  The  Boxer  Society  was,  as  its  name  suggests, 
apparently  an  athletic  society — a  society  which  had 
for  its  object  the  encouragement  of  the  art  of  self- 
defence.  But  the  name  had  another  signification. 
Its  real  object,  as  a  Chinaman  explained  to  me,  was 
to  "knock  the  heads  of  the  foreigners  off."  It  was 
a  religious  as  well  as  a  political  movement,  however. 
It  had  its  prophets,  who  did  wonders  or  were  thought 
to  do  them,  and  its  disciples  were  believed  to  be 
invulnerable  to  any  Western  weapon.  It  protested 
against  the  movement  towards  Western  ideas,  which 
it  regarded  as  immoral ;  it  condemned  and  destroyed 
everything  Western,  from  straw  hats  and  cigarettes 
to  mission  houses  and  railways ;  its  disciples  believed 
that  the  spirits  that  defend  China  were  angry  at 
the  introduction  of  Western  things,  that  they  were 
withholding  the  rain  so  necessary  to  the  light  loess 
land  of  that  district,  and  that  the  only  way  they 
could  be  propitiated  was  by  the  sacrifice  of  a  Western 
life  or  by  the  destruction  of  a  Western  building. 
One  of  the  things  that  precipitated  the  siege  of 
Peking  was  the  apparent  success  of  such  an  action. 
In  pursuance  of  their  faith,  the  Boxers  set  a  light  to 
the  rail-head  station  of  the  half-made  Hankow-Peking 
railway,  a  place  called  Pao-ting-fu ;  the  station  was 
a  mere  wooden  barrack,  and  blazed  up  merrily  with 
an  imposing  column  of  smoke ;  hardly  had  the  smoke 
reached  the  heavens,  when  the  sky  was  overcast  with 
heavy  thunder-clouds,  and  in  a  short  time  the  thirsty 
land  received  the  long-wished-for  rain,  and  the  Boxer 


8 


CHANGING  CHINA 


prophets  pointed  with  sinister  effect  to  the  heavenly 
confirmation  of  their  doctrine. 

It  is  necessary  to  remind  the  reader  of  the  re- 
ligious aspect  of  Boxerdom,  so  that  he  shall  realise 
what  its  fall  meant  to  many  Chinese.  Really  their 
faith  in  it  was  wonderful.  A  Boxer,  for  instance,  at 
the  siege  of  Peking  walked  composedly  in  front  of 
the  Legation,  waving  his  sword  and  performing 
mystic  signs ;  the  soldiers  first  of  one  then  of  another 
Legation  fired  on  him  with  no  effect ;  probably  his 
coolness  put  out  their  aim.  Another  example  of  their 
credulity  was  told  me  at  Newchwang.  The  Russians 
had  occupied  Newchwang,  and,  more  suo,  were  pacifying 
it ;  they  were  shooting  all  the  Boxers  on  whom  they 
could  lay  hands,  and,  I  am  afraid,  a  great  number 
who  were  not  Boxers.  They  chained  one  of  these 
fanatics  to  a  stone  seat  with  the  intention  of  executing 
him  ;  but  they  thought  they  might  get  some  useful 
information  out  of  him,  so  they  asked  an  English- 
man who  spoke  Chinese  perfectly  to  make  inquiries 
of  him,  giving  him  authority  to  offer  a  respite  as  a 
reward.  He  went  to  the  prisoner,  and  sitting  down 
by  him,  tried  to  induce  him  to  save  his  life  by  giving 
information,  but  he  was  met  by  a  contemptuous 
refusal ;  and  when  he  pointed  out  that  the  firing 
party  was  there,  the  misguided  man  merely  said, 
"  I  am  a  Boxer,  and  their  bullets  cannot  hurt  me," 
Another  minute,  of  course,  proved  his  error.  But  his 
firmness  showed  the  reality  of  his  conviction. 

Sometimes  this  fanaticism  had  curious  results. 


WHAT  HAS  AWAKENED  CHINA?  9 

A  Boxer  prophet  assured  the  village  that  no 
works  of  the  West  could  hurt  him,  no  bullet  could 
harm  him,  no  train  could  crush  him.  As  a  railway 
ran  near  the  village,  he  and  all  the  inhabitants  ad- 
journed thither  to  put  his  invulnerability  to  the  test. 
The  daily  train  came  puffing  along,  as  the  Boxer, 
waving  his  sword,  stood  right  in  its  path.  The  driver 
was  a  European,  and  seeing  some  one  on  the  line, 
pulled  up  his  train  to  avoid  running  over  him.  The 
Boxer  pointed  to  the  train  triumphantly,  and  the 
astonished  villagers  became  Boxers.  There  was, 
however,  a  sceptic  who  refused  to  believe,  so  next 
day  they  repaired  again  to  the  line,  and  the  Boxer 
again  made  his  passes  and  uttered  his  charms.  Alas 
for  him  !  this  time  the  driver  was  a  Chinaman,  and 
he  was  not  going  to  stop  his  master's  train  because 
a  coolie  fellow  got  in  the  way,  so  he  put  on  full  steam 
and  cut  him  to  pieces,  and  the  village  deserted  the 
Boxer  faith  to  a  man. 

With  the  relief  of  Peking,  the  Boxer  Society 
fell;  but  the  popular  view  was  not  that  Boxer 
teaching  was  false,  but  that  the  spirits  behind 
Western  religion  were  stronger  than  those  behind 
Boxerdom.  So  one  of  the  immediate  results  of  the 
fall  of  the  Boxers  was  to  establish  the  spiritual 
prestige  of  Christianity  ;  the  second  result  was  to 
inspire  the  Chinese  with  a  respect  for  the  military 
power  of  the  foreigner.  The  Boxers  had  failed, 
the  foreign  powers  had  taken  Peking,  the  Son  of 
Heaven  had  become  a  fugitive ;  all  this  was  gall  and 


lo  CHANGING  CHINA 

wormwood  to  the  Chinaman.  The  sack  of  Peking 
was  especially  felt,  both  because  of  the  wanton  de- 
struction that  was  committed — one  informant  told 
me  he  saw  a  vase  worth  £200  smashed  into  a  thou- 
sand atoms  by  a  drunken  soldier — and  because 
the  enlightened  Chinese  knew  very  well  that  no 
civilised  city  is  sacked  at  the  present  time,  and 
that  they  were  being  treated  as  no  other  race  is 
now  treated. 

Yet  the  old  spirit  of  pride  prevented  them  learning 
completely  the  full  truth.  The  thinking  Chinaman 
was  still  disposed  to  attribute  the  victory  of  the  West 
to  the  superior  fighting  powers  of  Western  men.  A 
Chinese  gentleman,  explaining  the  fear  his  people 
have  of  Europeans,  said,  "  They  regard  you  as 
tigers."  The  troops  who  sacked  Peking  were  to 
the  thinking  Chinaman  but  another  example  of 
the  well-known  truth,  that  those  nearer  the  savage 
state  fight  better  than  civilised  men,  and  really, 
considering  the  behaviour  of  some  of  the  European 
troops,  no  surprise  can  be  felt  at  this  conclusion ; 
it  needed  another  lesson  to  make  them  finally  and 
thoroughly  realise  the  superiority  of  our  civilisa- 
tion. 

The  bitterness  of  their  next  humiliation  made 
them  ready  to  learn  as  they  had  never  been  before 
in  the  whole  of  their  history,  and  events  provided 
them  with  teachers  who  taught  them  that  the 
cause  of  this  humiliation  was  their  refusal  to  accept 
Western   ideas,  and  that  if  they  would  maintain 


WHAT  HAS  AWAKENED  CHINA?  ii 


their  independence  they  must  learn  the  art  of  war 
from  their  conquerors. 

After  the  siege  of  Peking  came  the  Russo- 
Japanese  war*  The  Russians  had  long  been  known 
and  feared  by  the  Chinese  ;  they  were  to  the  Chinese 
mind  the  embodiment  of  the  warlike  and  blood- 
thirsty spirit  of  the  West ;  they  were  hated  for  their 
cruelty  and  feared  for  their  prowess.  The  awful 
story  of  the  massacre  of  Blagovestchensk  in  1900 
was  still  present  to  the  popular  mind.  The  story 
was  this.  The  Amur  divides  China  from  Siberia. 
When  the  Boxer  movement  broke  out  the  Russians 
required  all  the  Chinese  to  go  to  their  side  of  the 
river ;  but  with  sinister  intent,  they  removed  all  the 
boats,  so  that  no  one  could  cross.  The  Chinese 
pointed  this  out,  and  the  respectable  merchants  of 
the  town  presented  a  petition  saying  they  were  ready 
to  obey  the  Russian  Government  in  everything,  but 
without  the  boats  they  could  not  do  so ;  but  the  Rus- 
sians insisted  that  boats  or  no  boats,  they  must  cross 
the  Amur  ;  they  protested,  but  in  vain  ;  a  half-circle 
was  formed  round  them  by  the  soldiery,  and  the 
whole  Chinese  population  of  the  city  was  driven  into 
the  river  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet. 

The  Japanese  were  also  well  known  to  the 
Chinese ;  they  had  been  till  lately,  when  the  Wes- 
tern movement  had  altered  everything  in  Japan, 
their  pupils  in  civilisation.  The  Japanese  believed 
in  Confucius,  used  Chinese  characters,  worshipped 
in  Buddhist  temples,  sacrificed  to  ancestors,  in  fact 


12 


CHANGING  CHINA 


were  in  Chinese  estimation  a  civilised  race,  though 
inferior  of  course  to  themselves. 

When  these  two  antagonists  met  in  Manchuria, 
the  war  could  not  fail  to  make  a  deep  impression 
on  China.  To  begin  with,  it  was  an  insult  surpass- 
ing that  of  the  sack  of  Peking  to  the  Chinese 
amour  propre,  to  have  the  w^ar  carried  on  in  Man- 
churia. Russia  and  Japan  were  disputing  over 
Korea,  and  both  nations  were  at  peace  with  China. 
Russia  might  have  invaded  Japan ;  Japan  might 
have  invaded  Russia,  or  both  might  have  met  in 
Korea,  but  what  they  did  was  to  select  a  province 
of  a  neutral  State  and  decide  that  there  should 
be  the  scene  of  conflict.  What  made  this  more 
striking  was  that  they  agreed  to  respect  the  neu- 
trality of  the  rest  of  China ;  in  fact  they  selected 
their  battle-ground  with  the  same  equanimity  as  if 
China  and  her  national  rights  did  not  exist. 

But  the  deepest  impression  made  on  the  Chinese 
was  by  the  victory  of  the  Eastern  over  the  Western. 
The  J apanese  demonstrated  that  there  was  no  essential 
inferiority  of  the  East  to  the  West,  and  that  when  an 
Eastern  race  adopted  Western  military  methods  it 
proved  itself  superior  to  the  most  powerful  of  the 
Western  races.  This  was  the  lesson  the  battle  of 
Mukden  taught  the  Chinese,  and  which  convinced 
the  anti-foreign  party  in  China,  that  however  much 
they  might  hate  the  foreigner,  they  must  adopt 
Western  methods  if  they  would  retain  their  inde- 
pendence.   The  result  was  that  the  progressive  and 


WHAT  HAS  AWAKENED  CHINA?  13 


anti-foreign  parties  found  themselves  at  one.  Both 
agreed  that  Western  ideas  were  necessary.  The 
first,  because  they  believed  in  Western  progress ;  the 
second,  because  they  felt  that  the  only  way  to  pre- 
serve China  from  the  hated  foreigner  was  to  learn 
the  secret  of  his  military  power.  The  first  thing  to 
be  done  was  to  study  Western  education,  and  then 
they  could  hope  to  hold  their  own  against  the 
Western  races,  as  Japan  had  more  than  held  her 
own  against  the  Russians. 

I  believe  the  battle  of  Mukden  will  prove  one 
of  the  turning  points  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
Few  of  us  have  any  conception  of  the  bitterness  of 
the  humiliation  of  China.  People  speak  of  Russia 
as  having  been  humiliated,  but  my  experience  is 
that  the  Russians  looked  at  the  whole  question  as 
a  colonial  war  in  which  a  bungling  Government  em- 
broiled their  country — a  war  which,  if  it  demon- 
strated the  incapacity  of  their  officers,  proved  the 
courage  of  their  soldiers.  But  the  humiliation  of 
China  was  intense.  When  one  remembers  the 
position  that  the  Emperor  occupies  in  China ;  when 
one  also  remembers  the  reverential  feeling  that 
exists  towards  ancestors,  one  realises  what  it  must 
have  meant  to  the  Chinaman  that  the  site  of  the 
tombs  of  their  Emperors  should  have  been  the 
scene  of  that  titanic  struggle  between  the  East 
and  the  West.  But  the  result  of  that  humiliation 
was  to  burn  in  the  lesson  that  Japan  had  taken 
the  right  course,  and  that,  however  hateful  were 


14 


CHANGING  CHINA 


Western  ways,  they  were  a  necessity,  and  that 
every  lover  of  China  must  do  his  best  to  introduce 
them  into  the  Empire. 

Of  course  there  are  many  Chinamen — nay,  I 
should  think  a  vast  majority — who  intend  to  pre- 
serve to  China  the  essential  points  of  the  Confucian 
civilisation ;  they  mean  to  accept  Western  ideas  only 
in  so  far  as  they  are  necessary  to  struggle  against 
the  West.  Some,  no  doubt,  definitely  admire  the 
West,  but  most  are  anxious  for  a  compromise  ; 
they  want  to  preserve  China  with  its  customs, 
with  its  essential  thought,  but  to  strengthen  it  by 
foreign  knowledge  and  a  foreign  military  system. 
The  exact  degree  of  what  should  be  preserved  in 
China  and  what  should  be  destroyed  and  replaced 
by  Western  innovations,  differs  according  to  the 
age  and  the  temperament  of  the  thinkers,  but 
the  principle  is  most  generally  accepted — Western 
thought  must  be  grafted  on  to  Eastern  civilisa- 
tion. When  we  remember  the  size  of  China,  we 
may  well  ask  ourselves  what  effect  this  policy  will 
have  on  the  rest  of  the  world.  We  have  at  present 
a  period  of  reflection,  for  how  long  we  cannot  tell. 
The  task  of  welding  East  and  West  into  one  whole 
is  in  practice  proving  difficult,  and  at  present  failure 
is  very  often  the  result ;  but  with  Japan  as  a  suc- 
cessful example,  and  with  the  threat  of  national 
extinction  and  foreign  domination  before  them,  the 
Chinese  can  never  give  up  the  effort ;  and  whatever 
the  exact  result  may  be,  I  think  one  may  assert 


WHAT  HAS  AWAKENED  CHINA?  15 

without  rashness  that  not  only  will  it  fundamentally 
alter  the  whole  of  China,  but  through  China  affect 
the  whole  world. 

While  detailing  the  causes  which  have  created 
the  national  movement  which  is  now  inducing  China 
'  to  make  every  effort  to  perfect  her  defences  against 
foreign  aggressions,  we  must  not  forget  that  the 
awakening  of  China  has  a  higher  side,  and  one 
which  we  can  attribute  directly  and  indirectly  to 
Christianity.  The  influence  of  Christianity  can  be 
traced  back  to  the  seventh  century  when  missions 
of  Nestorian  Christians  came  to  Thibet  and  China ; 
they  left  behind  them,  it  is  true,  no  converts,  but 
their  influence  was  probably  felt  through  the  power 
that  Lamaism  had  had  over  a  great  part  of  the 
Eastern  world.  A  learned  Japanese,  discussing  this 
subject,  said  that  no  one  could  study  Lamaism  and 
Buddhism  without  realising  how  intimately  it  had 
been  in  touch  with  some  form  of  Christianity.  Later 
on  the  great  Roman  Catholic  missions,  initiated  by 
St.  Francis  Xavier  in  the  thirteenth  century,  began 
to  work  in  China,  and  have  slowly  but  surely  raised 
up  a  large  population  who  have  been  Christians  for 
many  generations.  Their  missions  were  interrupted 
by  persecutions,  but  with  varying  and  lately  increas- 
ing success  they  have  maintained  themselves  ever 
since.  In  1807  the  pioneer  of  Protestant  missions, 
Dr.  Morrison,  began  his  work  and  the  translation 
of  the  Bible  into  Chinese.  The  work  increased,  his 
mission  was  followed  by  other  missions,  which  pursued 


i6  CHANGING  CHINA 


a  policy  even  more  influential  in  altering  the  opinion 
of  China;  not  only  did  they  with  great  heroism 
preach  the  Gospel  in  every  province  of  China,  but 
they  took  two  actions  which  have  afiected  China  in 
a  very  special  degree. 

First  the  American  missions  made  the  very  greatest 
eftort  to  get  hold  of  inteUigent  Chinese  men,  both 
Christian  and  non-Christian,  to  teach  them  Western 
knowledge,  so  that  they  might  understand  how  inti- 
mately Christianity  was  connected  with  Christian 
thought.  The  result  of  their  efforts  has  been  that 
there  are  a  considerable  number  of  enlightened 
Chinese  gentry  who  are  either  Christians  or  who 
have  a  great  sympathy  with  the  Christian  side  of 
Western  civilisation.  Sometimes  they  educated  these 
men  in  China,  sometimes  they  induced  them  to  go 
to  America  for  their  education  ;  and  there  they  were 
brought  into  contact  with  the  intense,  yet  rather 
narrow,  New  England  Christianity.  I  had  the 
honour  of  meeting  many  of  these  men  in  China, 
and  I  was  convinced  that  they  have  no  small  part 
in  her  awakening. 

The  English  and  American  missionaries,  under  the 
leadership  of  Dr.  Williamson,  inaugurated  a  second 
policy,  which  has  had  far-reaching  results  in  causing 
the  changes  in  China.  The  Christian  Literature 
Society  was  started  to  supply  the  Chinese  with 
translations  of  the  best  Western  literature.  They 
were  followed  by  Chinese  imitators  who  were  also 
Christians,  and  who  founded  a  Chinese  Commercial 


WHAT  HAS  AWAKENED  CHINA?  17 

Press.  These  two  bodies  have  given  to  China  a 
vast  amount  of  Western  Hterature,  the  first  on 
philanthropic  lines  with  the  definite  intention  of 
spreading  Christianity,  the  second  on  a  commercial 
basis  but  with  the  intention  of  presenting  to  their 
fellow-countrymen  the  purer  and  more  beautiful  side 
of  Western  thought.  The  publications  of  these  two 
^  bodies  reach,  I  am  told,  to  every  educated  man  in 
China.  If  the  humiliations  of  public  events  made 
the  Chinese  willing  to  study  Western  civilisation,  it 
was  these  men  who  afforded  them  the  -means  of 
studying  and  understanding  the  best  side  of  that 
civilisation. 

But  perhaps  those  who  have  done  most  to  give 
the  Chinese  a  proper  conception  of  Christianity  are 
the  Bible  Societies,  especially  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society.  Ever  since,  with  the  optimism  of  faith, 
the  translation  of  the  Scriptures  by  Dr.  Morrison 
was  published  in  1814,  they  have  been  scattering  the 
Christian  Scriptures  throughout  the  whole  of  China, 
from  Mongolia  to  Tonkin,  and  I  am  told  that  those 
Scriptures  are  read  by  men  in  the  highest  positions 
and  with  the  most  conservative  antecedents  in  the 
whole  empire.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  in- 
direct fruit  of  their  work  has  been  very  great  indeed. 
China  has,  through  the  agencies  of  these  bodies,  been 
brought  into  close  contact  with  Christian  thought, 
and  has  at  last  realised  the  true  nature  of  our 
religion. 

Lastly,  there  has  been  the  influence  of  those  who 

B 


i8  CHANGING  CHINA 

died  for  the  Christian  faith  during  the  many  per- 
secutions to  which  Christianity  has  been  exposed,  and 
which  culminated  in  the  Boxer  persecution.  If  Ger- 
many, by  her  action  in  Shantung,  put  before  China 
a  false  and  most  repellent  view  of  Christianity,  the 
heroic  sufferings  of  the  martyred  missionaries,  both 
yellow  and  white,  presented  Christianity  to  a 
wondering  world  in  its  purest  aspect.  After  those 
thousands  of  Christians  had  suffered  in  Shan- si,  the 
Home  bodies,  especially  the  China  Inland  Mission, 
refused  to  take  any  compensation  for  the  blood  that 
had  been  shed  in  the  cause  of  the  Gospel.  The 
Chinese  were  then  convinced  that  the  German  pre- 
sentation of  Christianity  was  not  the  only  one ;  if 
Germany  could  look  on  Christianity  only  as  a  stalking 
horse  behind  which  she  could  creep  up  to  her  prey, 
the  English-speaking  races  had  a  holier  ideal  to  teach 
and  one  which  was  more  consonant  with  the  words 
of  the  Founder  of  our  religion.  The  sufferings  of  the 
Christians  were  intense,  their  heroism  was  great, 
but  the  result  has  been  commensurate  with  their 
efforts,  and  an  awakening  China  looks  to  our 
countries,  not  solely  to  teach  her  the  art  of  war 
and  of  killing  men,  but  also  to  teach  her  the  great 
thoughts  and  the  great  religion  which  has  before 
her  very  eyes  proved  capable  of  producing  such 
noble  men  and  women. 

The  awakening  of  China  has  two  aspects.  From 
one  aspect  China  is  awakening  to  the  value  of  the 
science  and  the  arts  of  the  West ;  from  the  other 


WHAT  HAS  AWAKENED  CHINA?  19 

China  is  awakening  to  the  fact  that  there  is  in  the 
West  a  power  which  comes  from  goodness,  and  that 
goodness  has  its  root  in  Christian  faith.  It  is  this 
twofold  aspect  of  the  awakening  of  China  which 
is  so  important  to  bear  in  mind,  for  if  she  is  to 
share  in  our  civilisation  in  the  future,  it  is  both 
our  duty  and  our  interest  to  see  that  this  great 
world -movement  is  encouraged  to  develop  on  its 
higher  side. 


CHAPTER  II 


WHAT  CHINA  MEANS  TO  THE  WORLD 

The  day  is  past  when  any  one  in  Europe,  whether 
Christian  or  non  -  Christian,  can  be  indifferent  to 
what  is  happening  in  China.  The  Christian  has 
indeed  been  for  a  long  time  aUve  to  the  importance  of 
these  developments,  but  the  ordinary  citizen  with  no 
strong  religious  views  has  usually  neither  displayed 
nor  felt  any  interest  in  a  country  separated  from 
us  by  so  many  miles  and  by  such  an  untraversable 
gulf  in  thought  and  language.  If  the  Christian 
has  urged  the  importance  of  Chinese  missions,  his 
neighbours  have  answered  by  asking  him  why  he 
cannot  leave  the  Chinese  to  themselves  and  to 
their  own  religion.  Whatever  justice  the  opponent 
of  missions  in  times  past  may  have  thought  he  had 
for  this  view,  he  cannot  now  maintain  that  the 
Chinese  question  is  one  which  may  be  put  on  one 
side  by  any  thoughtful  man.  The  movements  of 
this  vast  mass  of  humanity,  amounting  to  a  quarter 
of  the  population  of  the  world,  cannot  but  fail  to 
have  a  very  real  and  vital  effect  on  the  whole 
civilised  world. 

The  revolution  that  is  affecting  China  brings 
Europe   and   America   into   close   contact   with  a 

30 


WHAT  CHINA  MEANS 


21 


country  equal  to  Europe  in  size,  and  not  far  inferior 
in  productive  power.  A  few  years  ago  China  was 
so  far  away  that  except  as  an  outlet  for  trade  it 
had  little  interest  for  people  here.  The  voyage 
occupied  many  months  and  was  esteemed  a  hazardous 
journey,  owing  to  the  dangerous  coasts  and  typhoons 
of  the  China  seas.  Now  a  train-de-luxe  conveys  the 
traveller  in  a  fortnight  across  Asia  to  Peking,  and 
if  the  accommodation  on  the  Chinese  part  of  the 
railway  is  not  altogether  luxurious,  the  traveller 
remembers  that  it  is  far  superior  to  that  on  the  first 
railways  opened  in  our  own  land.  The  journey  is 
of  course  tedious,  but  the  fact  that  business  men  in 
the  north  of  China  are  talking  of  always  spending 
their  summer  holidays  in  England,  will  show  how 
close  China  is  now  to  Europe.  It  is  no  exaggera- 
tion to  say  that  in  reckoning  distance  by  the  time 
it  takes  to  complete  the  journey,  China  is  nearer 
to  England  than  London  was  to  Scotland  in  the 
days  of  Dr.  Johnson,  while  in  point  of  comfort  and 
convenience  there  is  no  comparison.  The  journey 
from  London  to  Peking  is  far  easier  at  the  present 
day  than  the  journey  from  London  to  Edinburgh 
in  the  days  of  Johnson's  famous  trip  to  the 
Hebrides. 

If  in  this  way  we  are  getting  closer  to  China, 
we  are  still  more  growing  closer  in  thought.  No 
longer  can  we  speak  of  a  gulf  that  separates  us 
from  China.  Every  year  English  is  becoming  more 
^nd  more   the   language  of  educated  men  in  the 


22 


CHANGING  CHINA 


East ;  even  though  we  cannot  read  their  books, 
they  are  reading  ours  either  in  translations  or  in 
the  original.  Japan  has  set  the  example  of  having 
English  taught  universally  in  her  high  schools, 
and  now  China  is  following  her  example.  A 
foreigner,  talking  about  Esperanto,  remarked  :  What 
would  be  the  use  of  making  an  universal  language? 
English,  at  any  rate  in  the  East,  is  the  universal 
language."  That  barbarous  patois,  pidgin  "  or  busi- 
ness English,  lives  still  in  China.  It  consists  of 
English  roots,  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  Portuguese 
w^ords,  put  into  Chinese  idiom  and  pronounced  Chinese 
fashion.  But  "  pidgin "  English  is  fast  giving  way 
to  pure  English,  spoken  most  commonly  with  a 
marked  American  accent. 

If  this  growing  proximity  of  China  compels  the 
attention  of  the  civilised  world,  the  virgin  wealth  of 
her  mineral  resources  and  the  cheapness  of  her  labour 
have  excited  the  cupidity  of  the  Western  capitalist, 
and  it  is  daily  more  obvious  that  China  must  become 
the  centre  of  international  politics,  therefore  the  extent 
to  which  she  will  affect  the  rest  of  the  world  should  be 
a  matter  for  careful  consideration.  India,  it  will  be 
urged,  has  long  been  in  contact  with  Europe,  and  the 
effect  on  Europe  is  small.  Why  should  there  be  any 
difference  when  another  Oriental  race  comes  in  close 
proximity  with  Europe  ?  Putting  on  one  side  the 
fact  that  India  has,  both  in  trade  and  in  politics,  had 
a  very  great  effect  on  England,  it  can  be  answered 
that  there  is  an  essential  difference  between  the 


WHAT  CHINA  MEANS  23 

brown  inhabitants  of  India  and  the  yellow  race. 
The  former  are,  through  religion  or  custom,  unable 
to  accommodate  themselves  to  the  conditions  of 
Western  civilisation ;  the  latter  have  shown  them- 
selves such  adepts  at  accepting  Western  life  that 
they  have  excelled  the  white  man,  to  his  great  annoy- 
ance, in  his  own  civilisation.  The  Chinaman,  who 
is  forbidden  to  enter  America,  Australia,  and  South 
Africa,  is  refused  admittance,  not  because  he  has  been 
untried  or  because  he  has  been  tried  and  found  want- 
ing, but  because  he  has  been  tried  in  the  three 
continents  and  found  by  all  who  have  tried  him 
eminently  efficient  —  so  efficient  that  if  he  were 
allowed  to  continue  in  those  countries,  he  would  soon 
render  the  presence  of  the  white  settler  unnecessary. 
He  has  been  tried  in  three  just  balances  and  been 
found  of  such  value  that  the  white  voter  is  unanimous 
in  demanding  his  exclusion.  But  even  the  most 
aggressive  Chinese  exclusionist  can  scarcely  hope  to 
exclude  him  from  his  own  country,  and  the  China- 
man who  stays  at  home  is  probably  a  better  man  than 
the  Chinaman  who  goes  abroad. 

Western  civilisation  may  be  expected  to  grow  with 
equal  rapidity  in  China  as  it  has  in  J apan.  Obviously 
Japan  is  the  precedent  that  China  will  follow  rather 
than  India,  whether  Hindu  or  Mohammedan. 

A  few  years  ago  a  man  would  have  been  classed 
as  an  eccentric  who  dared  foretell  that  Russia  would 
be  defeated  by  Japan.  When  Japan  talked  about 
going  to  war  with  Russia,  Russia  laughed.  Who 


24  CHANGING  CHINA 

can  tell  how  we  shall  speak  of  China  a  few  years 
hence?  For  Japan  after  all  is  only  the  same  size 
in  population  as  Great  Britain,  but  China  is  eight 
times  as  large. 

There  are  three  ways  in  which  China  may  affect 
Europe.  Militarily,  she  may  menace  her  by  her 
enormous  armies  enlisted  from  her  vast  population. 
Commercially,  she  may  afford  an  outlet  for  our  trade 
far  greater  than  we  possess  at  the  present  time,  and 
perhaps  be  a  competitor  in  trade  and  a  place  where 
the  capital  of  Europe  will  be  invested.  Morally, 
she  may  either  depress  or  elevate  our  social  morals. 
Perhaps  the  reader  may  be  inclined  to  smile  at  the 
idea  of  China  being  in  a  higher  moral  condition  than 
Europe,  so  as  to  be  able  to  react  on  her  beneficially, 
but  stranger  things  have  happened ;  and  if  Europe 
follows  the  example  of  France  in  deterioration,  and 
China  continues  to  advance  with  the  same  rapidity, 
China  might  easily  excel  Europe  in  morals. 

Let  us  first  deal  with  the  question  from  the  mili- 
tary point  of  view.  The  military  authorities  who 
know  the  Chinese  seem  to  be  equally  divided  in 
opinion  ;  many  are  confident  that  they  are  an  un- 
warlike  race,  others  maintain  and  bring  evidence  to 
prove  that  under  competent  officers  they  have  great 
military  qualities. 

A  few  years  ago,  for  instance,  the  development  of 
the  military  power  of  China  was  regarded  as  a  possible 
danger  to  the  world,  and  especially  to  England  or 
Russia.    It  was  pointed  out  that  China  might  easily 


WHAT  CHINA  MEANS  25 

descend  with  a  huge  army  on  to  India  in  the  distant 
future,  or  she  might  turn  her  arms  northward  and 
conquer  the  wide  districts  of  Siberia.  Now  the 
popular  view  is  the  reverse,  and  the  mihtary  power 
of  China  is  regarded  as  a  thing  incapable  of  great 
development.  A  Japanese  diplomatist  with  whom 
we  discussed  the  question  ridiculed  the  idea  of  the 
yellow  peril  and  smiled  at  the  suggestion  that  China 
could  ever  be  a  nation  great  in  war.  Certainly  her 
present  military  power  can  be  safely  ignored  except 
in  Manchuria  ;  whether  that  power  is  capable  of 
development  is  a  moot  point.  Believers  in  the  war- 
like possibilities  of  China  point  out  that  as  a  matter 
of  fact  China  is  by  right  of  conquest  suzerain  to  such 
warlike  races  as  the  Tibetans  and  the  Ghurkas,  and 
that  her  empire  reaches  as  far  as  Turkestan.  In 
answer  it  is  urged  that  the  victors  were  not  the 
Chinese,  but  the  conquerors  and  present  rulers  of 
the  Chinese,  the  northern  Manchus  ;  who,  till  they 
were  absorbed  by  Chinese  civilisation,  spoke  a  different 
language  and  wrote  a  different  character. 

The  Manchus  are  far  from  being  extinct,  though 
through  years  of  sensual  indulgence  they  have  lost 
their  virility ;  but  the  discipline  of  religion  or  the 
call  of  a  national  emergency  might  restore  the  war- 
like qualities  of  the  race.  It  was  only  in  1792  that 
the  Chinese,  under  Sund  Fo,  defeated  the  Ghurkas, 
and  we  must  allow  that  a  race  who  could  defeat  these 
gallant  soldiers  must  be  skilled  and  brave  in  war. 
On  the  other  hand  I  was  assured  that  the  Manchus, 


26 


CHANGING  CHINA 


so  far  from  showing  any  courage  in  the  war  with 
Japan,  were  the  first  to  flee,  and  that  they  differ 
in  nothing  from  the  Chinese  except  that  they  are 
pensioners  and  ride  horses.  Those  who  disbelieve  in 
the  courage  of  the  Chinese  say  the  Chinese  never 
had  any  courage  except  of  a  passive  order  ;  that  they 
would  endure  suffering  against  any  race  on  earth, 
and  that  their  whole  history  tells  that  tale ;  that 
they  have  been  subject  in  turn  to  the  Mongols,  the 
Kins,  and  the  Manchus ;  and  that  the  period  of  the 
Ming  dynasty  when  they  were  free,  was  only  because 
the  Mongols  had  reduced  every  nation  within  many 
thousands  of  miles  to  subjection,  and  then  they  them- 
selves had  fallen  a  prey,  not  to  the  Chinese  arms 
directly,  but  to  the  enervating  and  destructive  effects 
of  Chinese  civilisation  which  rendered  them  absolutely 
unable  to  fio^ht. 

Those  who  argue  in  this  way  point  to  that  great 
feature  of  Chinese  scenery,  the  fortified  wall.  That 
Great  Wall  of  China,  climbing  hill  and  dale,  was 
built  to  keep  the  northern  and  warlike  tribes  from 
harrying  the  peace-loving  and  industrious  Chinaman. 
Behind  that  wall  lie  nothing  but  fortress  after  for- 
tress ;  every  city  is  walled,  and  those  walls  tell  their 
own  tale.  A  warlike  race  never  dwells  in  walled 
cities.  When  the  traveller  enters  Japan  after  visit- 
ing China,  the  first  thing  which  strikes  him  is  the 
absence  of  walled  cities.  The  villages  and  towns  lie 
along  the  roads  as  they  do  in  our  own  country  instead 
of  clustering  behind  the  tall  and  gloomy  walls  of  China. 


WHAT  CHINA  MEANS  27 

Again,  those  who  say  the  Chinese  will  never  fight, 
point  out  that  they  have  never  been  able  to  reduce 
two  savage  races  right  in  their  midst,  the  Maios  and 
Lolos.  One  devoted  missionary  who  had  spent  many 
years  of  his  life  in  the  thankless  task  of  attempting 
to  approach  these  savage  Lolos,  gave  us  an  interest- 
ing account  of  the  relation  between  the  Lolos  and 
the  Chinese  which  certainly  does  not  show  that  the 
Chinese  have  much  military  skill.  The  Lolos  are  a 
sort  of  Highland  caterans  who  live  in  the  mountains 
in  the  west  of  China,  and  from  time  to  time  raid 
the  peace-loving  Chinese  villages.  The  Chinese  then 
retaliate  by  organising  a  large  force,  who  advance 
on  the  Lolo  country  and  burn  their  villages.  The 
Lolos  rarely  offer  any  direct  resistance,  as  they  realise 
they  are  hopelessly  outnumbered,  but  take  an  oppor- 
tunity to  raid  another  village  and  to  slaughter 
hundreds  of  defenceless  Chinese.  If  the  forces  are 
anything  like  equal,  the  Lolos  will  fight,  and  even 
sometimes  when  the  forces  are  wholly  unequal.  On 
one  occasion  seven  Lolos  and  two  women  pub  to  flight 
three  hundred  Chinese  soldiers,  killing  forty  and 
wounding  many  more.  The  Chinese  consequently 
live  in  considerable  fear  of  those  Highland  barbarians, 
whose  fierce  yells  and  savage  onslaught  produce  abso- 
lute panic  in  their  troops. 

Officers  who  have  commanded  Chinese  troops  seem 
generally  to  believe  in  their  capabilities.  Gordon,  for 
instance,  spoke  in  the  highest  terms  of  the  soldiers 
who  formed  his  "  ever  victorious   army,"  and  the 


28 


CHANGING  CHINA 


English  officers  who  commanded  the  Weihaiwei 
regiment  and  those  who  commanded  the  Chinese 
volunteers  at  the  siege  of  Peking  spoke  equally  well 
of  their  men.  It  is  reported  that  the  Chinese  soldiers 
at  the  siege  of  Tientsin  would  carry  the  wounded 
back  out  of  the  range  of  fire  when  no  European  sol- 
diers could  be  found  ready  to  perform  this  dangerous 
task,  but  of  this  story  I  could  find  no  first-hand 
confirmation.  But  whether  the  Chinese  in  times  to 
come  will  develop  an  efficient  army  or  whether  they 
do  not,  the  most  competent  judges  affirm  that  Chinese 
military  greatness  will  always  make  for  peace ;  that 
they  will  never  wage  a  war  of  aggression ;  and  that, 
so  far  from  being  a  menace  to  the  world,  they  will 
prove  to  be  a  security  for  the  world's  peace  in  the  Far 
East.  In  fact  it  is  the  continuance  of  China's  mili- 
tary weakness  rather  than  the  growth  of  her  military 
power  wliich  is  most  likely  to  disturb  the  political 
atmosphere.  China  is  far  too  rich  a  prize  to  be  safe 
if  unguarded,  and  the  acquisition  of  her  wealth  will 
always  prove  a  temptation  to  her  needy  neighbours. 

The  integrity  of  the  Chinese  empire  is  for  many 
reasons  a  most  desirable  thing,  and  that  integrity  can 
best  be  maintained  by  an  increase  of  China's  military 
power. 

One  of  the  reasons  why  this  is  so  much  to  be 
desired  is  from  the  commercial  effect  which  China 
may  have  on  the  rest  of  the  world.  If  the  vast  masses 
of  her  singularly  excellent  workmen  are  to  be  ex- 
ploited by  powers  who  have  no  thought  for  either 


WHAT  CHINA  MEANS  29 

hers  or  the  world's  welfare ;  if  the  sweated  den  of 
the  alien  is  a  menace  to  the  healthy  conditions  of  the 
working  man  in  London  ;  if  the  policy  of  such  philan- 
thropists as  Lord  Shaftesbury  has  been  at  all  beneficial 
to  the  world  at  large,  the  sudden  introduction  of 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  ill-paid  but  efficient  working 
men  to  the  great  Western  market  will  have  a  dele- 
terious effect  on  the  social  conditions  of  the  civilised 
world.  It  is  obviously  far  more  simple  to  bring  the 
factories  to  China  than  to  bring  the  Chinaman  to  the 
factories,  and  this  will  be  freely  done  if  ever  the  flag 
of  the  foreigner  waves  over  China.  The  great  ad- 
vantages that  China  can  offer  of  cheap  labour,  cheap 
coal  and  cheap  carriage,  coupled  with  the  security 
of  a  European  flag,  will  have  the  effect  of  attracting 
to  China  a  very  large  number  of  the  world's  indus- 
tries. If  this  is  done  gradually,  so  that  the  internal 
market  in  China  increases  proportionally,  this  will 
not  result  in  any  evil  to  other  nations.  China  will 
share  in  the  wealth  of  the  world,  and  will  be  at 
once  a  large  producer  and  a  large  consumer ;  but  if 
before  Western  civilisation  has  been  assimilated  by 
the  working  classes  Western  factories  are  extensively 
started  in  China  the  result  will  be  one  of  those  dis- 
locations of  social  conditions  which  we  include  under 
the  name  of  sweating. 

Western  conditions  of  labour  in  Western  countries 
may  be  deemed  by  some  to  be  hard,  but  no  one  can 
doubt  that  if  Western  conditions  of  labour  were  forced 
on  a  population  which  did  not  understand  them,  they 


30  CHANGING  CHINA 

would  have  a  tendency  to  become  definitely  oppres- 
sive. The  Chinese  coolie  will,  I  fear,  be  as  little  able 
to  maintain  his  ground  against  the  foreign  contractor 
supported  by  the  arms  of  a  foreign  power,  as  the 
Congo  native  is  to  maintain  his  rights  against  his 
Belgian  oppressor ;  and  unless  Western  powers  have 
the  humanity  and  wisdom  to  resist  those  of  their  own 
nations  who  will  clamour  to  make  money  out  of 
Chinese  labour,  Western  dominance  in  China  is  not 
to  be  desired  by  Western  wage-earners. 

One  of  the  most  impressive  sights  in  China  is  the 
Han-yang  Ironworks.  They  employ  three  thousand 
men,  and  are  owned  by  a  body  of  Chinese  capitalists. 
They  have  found  it  worth  while  to  triple  their  plant 
within  the  last  two  or  three  years,  and  one  can  hardly 
wonder  when  one  realises  that,  though  the  labourers 
are  paid  a  very  high  rate  according  to  Chinese  scale, 
they  only  get  sixpence  a  day,  and  even  allowing  that 
it  requires  three  Chinamen  to  do  the  work  of  one 
Englishman,  which  is  a  higher  proportion  than  is 
generally  claimed,  obviously  there  is  a  very  large 
margin  of  profit  to  be  made  by  the  owners  of  the 
works.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  Chinese  have 
been  unable  at  present  to  produce  any  native  en- 
gineers ;  sixteen  Europeans  of  various  nationalities 
manage  and  control  the  works,  though  they  are 
owned  by  Chinese,  but  the  skilled  work  is  all  done 
by  Chinese.  For  instance,  we  saw  a  man  straighten- 
ing the  rails  with  a  steam  hammer ;  it  was  very 
skilled  work,  and  I  was  told  he  was  making  7d.  or 


HANKOW,  THE  CHICAGO  OF  CHINA 


f 


RIVER  AT  LOW  WATER,  600  MILES  FROM  THE  SEA 


HAN-YANG  IRONWORKS 


WHAT  CHINA  MEANS  31 

8d.  a  day.  If  any  social  reformer,  if  any  one  interested 
in  the  condition  of  the  working  classes,  has  time  to 
consider  this  question  and  to  escape  from  that 
parochial  mind  which  so  distorts  the  importance  of 
things,  he  will  see  that  the  conditions  of  the  working 
classes  in  Europe  will  depend  to  a  greater  degree  on 
the  proper  development  of  the  social  conditions  of 
China  than  on  any  factor  at  home.  To  put  it  briefly, 
if  the  fourth  of  the  labour  of  this  world  is  living  under 
sweating  conditions,  the  other  three-fourths  may  con- 
sider themselves  lucky  if  their  income  is  not  cut  down 
by  25  per  cent. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  development  of  China  is 
allowed  to  pursue  its  normal  course,  and  education 
and  enlightenment  are  encouraged  to  proceed  by  equal 
steps  with  material  well-being,  the  commercial  con- 
ditions of  China,  so  far  from  being  injurious,  will  prove 
beneficial  to  the  world  at  large.  The  internal  market, 
for  one  thing,  will  tend  to  keep  pace  with  China's 
productions.  If  China  exports,  she  will  also  import ; 
the  volume  of  trade  will  no  doubt  be  enormously 
increased,  and  that  trade  will  bring  prosperity  to 
China  and  to  those  other  countries  who  are  trading 
with  her.  Her  people  will  gradually  grow  accus- 
tomed to  Western  conditions,  and,  if  China  maintains 
her  independence,  those  conditions  will  not  be  allowed 
to  become  too  onerous  to  the  poorer  classes.  The 
wealth  of  another  country  does  not  injure  her  neigh- 
bours ;  it  is  rather  her  poverty  which  injures  them. 
There  is  always  the  danger  that  the  poorer  country 


32  CHANGING  CHINA 

will  drain  the  capital  from  the  richer  country,  and 
that  a  rich  country  becomes  harsh  to  a  poor  country 
in  the  same  way  that  the  creditor  is  harsh  to  the 
debtor ;  certainly  it  would  be  most  undesirable  if 
a  sudden  industrial  expansion  in  China  paralysed 
many  industrial  undertakings  in  England  by  depriving 
them  of  the  capital  they  needed  for  enlargement,  and 
it  would  be  equally  undesirable  to  have  any  industrial 
undertaking  in  China  controlled  by  a  Board  of  Direc- 
tors in  London,  whose  one  object  was  to  increase  their 
dividends,  and  who  were  ignorant  of  and  therefore 
indifferent  to  the  injury  that  might  be  incidentally 
done  to  the  welfare  of  thousands  of  Chmese  who  fell 
under  their  power. 

And  this  brings  me  to  the  third  point  of  how 
China  may  affect  the  rest  of  the  world.  She  may, 
and  most  probably  will,  degrade  the  moral  tone  of 
Europe.  On  the  other  hand,  it  will  be  quite  possible 
that  she  may  act  as  a  moral  tonic.  We  scarcely  realise 
the  nature  of  the  chains  that  bind  one  part  of  our 
civilisation  to  another.  To  hear  men  talk,  one  would 
suppose  that  the  great  factors  in  the  government  of 
mankind  are  the  laws  and  regulations  made  by  kings 
and  popular  assemblies ;  but  a  deeper  inquiry  must 
show  that  it  is  only  the  smaller  part  of  a  man's  life 
that  is  controlled  by  law,  the  greater  part  is  controlled 
by  custom  or  fashion  which  is  enforced,  to  use  the 
technical  term,  by  the  sanction  of  public  opinion. 
Consider,  for  instance,  the  customs  of  dress,  or  of 
manners,  or   the  hours  we  keep,  or  the  way  we 


WHAT  CHINA  MEANS  33 

refer  to  things,  or  even  our  very  thoughts — they 
are  all  subject  to  this  power  ;  the  State  does  not 
generally  command  any  particular  dress,  yet  there 
is  a  large  and  increasing  measure  of  uniformity  in 
dress.  You  may  go  from  Asia  to  America,  from 
Vancouver  to  Vladivostock,  and  you  will  see  uni- 
formity in  the  rules  of  dress.  This  uniformity  is  all 
the  more  remarkable,  because  its  laws,  instead  of  being 
fixed  and  stationary,  are  constantly  altered ;  indeed, 
in  comparison  with  the  power  of  fashion,  the  powers 
of  the  greatest  autocrat  or  of  the  most  efficient  public 
office  are  as  nothing.  The  autocrat  may  give  an  order; 
the  public  office,  with  its  endless  clerks  and  forms, 
with  its  miles  of  red-tape,  may  try  to  see  that  order 
carried  out,  but  may  quite  possibly  fail.  But  fashion, 
issuing  her  capricious  orders,  has  no  office,  no  clerks, 
no  printed  forms  that  have  to  be  filled  up  to  secure 
obedience,  yet  her  subjects  yield  such  willing  service 
that  they  seek  for  information  from  every  quarter  as 
to  the  nature  of  her  commands,  and  when  they  know 
them,  they  count  neither  money  nor  comfort  to  be  of 
importance  compared  with  obedience  to  their  mistress. 
The  world,  while  it  wonders  at  its  own  submission, 
enlarges  or  reduces  its  clothes,  alters  its  head-gear, 
and  further,  will  even  change  its  manners,  its  speech, 
and  its  thoughts.  The  latest  fashion-book  is  but  the 
exaggeration  of  a  world-power ;  the  same  power  that 
compels  women  to  tighten  their  skirts  and  widen  their 
hats,  makes  their  husbands  talk  about  socialism  and 
observe  Empire  Day.     The  power  of  fashion  lies  in 

c 


34  CHANGING  CHINA 

this,  that  while  every  one  obeys,  no  one  is  conscious 
of  any  difficulty  in  obeying ;  the  chains  with  which 
fashion  binds  this  world  may  be  so  strong  that  the 
strongest  nature  cannot  break  them,  yet  they  are  so 
light  that  the  most  sensitive  natures  are  not  conscious 
of  their  restraint. 

But  this  great  power  of  fashion  has  its  limits,  and 
those  are  the  limits  of  our  civilisation.  The  mandate 
of  the  dressmaker  may  reach  from  Siberia  to  Peru,  but 
it  has  no  power  in  Mohammedan,  Hindu,  or  Confucian 
lands ;  the  Turkish  lady  still  veils  her  face,  the 
Hindu  still  adheres  to  his  caste,  the  Confucian  up  to 
this  moment  still  preserves  his  queue  and  his  blue 
robe,  but  if  China  accepts  our  civilisation  this  must 
change.  The  modern  Chinaman  dresses  in  Western 
fashion ;  the  loose  flowing  garment  of  China  acts  as 
a  sort  of  barometer  by  which  the  extent  of  European 
pressure  can  be  tested ;  up-country  they  are  as  loose 
as  ever,  but  in  Shanghai,  wherever  Chinese  dress  is 
still  preserved,  it  has  grown  tight.  A  change  typical 
of  what  may  happen  if  the  union  between  the  civilisa- 
tions takes  place  without  any  guidance  may  now  be 
seen  in  the  streets  of  Shanghai ;  the  dress  of  the 
women  is  shaped  in  the  Chinese  fashion,  they  wear 
the  traditional  coat  and  trousers,  but  the  cut  of  those 
garments  offends  both  East  and  West  alike  by  their 
great  exiguity. 

Every  one  would  allow  that  Western  fashions,  or, 
at  any  rate,  men's  fashions,  must  to  a  great  extent 
affect  China,  but  there  is  a  deeper  thought  beyond ; 


WHAT  CHINA  MEANS  35 

Western  fashions  will  not  merely  affect  Chinese  dress, 
but  they  will  also  affect  Chinese  thought,  and  when 
they  have  incorporated  Chinese  thought  into  Western 
civilisation,  when  the  conquest  is  complete  and  China 
and  the  West  are  one,  a  reaction  will  take  place,  and 
that  which  has  subdued  China  to  the  yoke  of  Western 
fashion  will  give  in  Ics  turn  power  to  China  to  control 
the  Western  Tvorld.  Without  suggesting  for  a  moment 
that  Peking  fashions  will  take  the  place  of  Paris 
fashions,  or  that  the  Englishman  will  grow  a  queue, 
I  do  suggest  that  there  are  many  precedents  in  history 
for  expecting  that  such  a  moral  force  as  the  Chinese 
reverence  for  parents,  or  such  an  immoral  position  as 
the  Chinese  contempt  for  the  working-man,  will  not 
be  without  its  effect  on  the  Western  world.  Again 
and  again  it  has  been  pointed  out  by  both  missionary 
and  Government  official,  that  so  great  is  the  power  of 
China,  that  she  brings  into  subjugation  to  her  thought 
any  one  who  is  long  resident  in  her  country.  If  it 
should  happen  that  the  Western  world  should  neglect 
the  Chinaman  when  it  has  the  opportunity  of  teaching 
and  directing  him,  longing  as  he  is  to  learn  about 
Western  civilisation,  the  punishment  of  the  West  will 
be  that  she  will,  in  years  to  come,  be  influenced  for 
evil  by  the  power  of  the  great  Celestial  Empire.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  East  should  turn  towards  Chris- 
tianity, and,  taught  by  Christianity,  should  learn  to 
live  a  higher  life,  the  example  of  her  faith  and  of  her 
morality  will  in  years  to  come  react  beneficially  on  the 
Western  world. 


CHAPTER  III 


ORIENTAL  AND  OCCIDENTAL 

The  West  cannot  either  by  right  or  through  self- 
interest  ignore  the  problem  that  China  has  to  solve. 
From  being  the  most  conservative  country  in  the 
world,  she  has  become  a  country  in  which  there  is 
rapid  change.  The  whole  civihsation  of  this  vast 
country  of  400,000,000  is  becoming  fundamentally 
altered  by  the  importation  into  it  of  ideas  and 
thoughts  which  are  not  native  to  her,  and  which 
have  been  created  by  a  system  of  religion  and  by  a 
history  belonging  to  nations  very  different  to  herself. 
The  full  difficulty  does  not  present  itself  till  after 
some  thought.  The  problem  is  quite  different  from 
that  which  has  been  before  mankind  in  other  parts 
of  the  world.  China  is  trying  to  accept  Western 
civilisation,  but  there  is  a  danger  that  it  will  be 
without  Christianity.  I  know  that  many  Europeans 
living  in  Tientsin  and  Shanghai,  who  give  but  little 
thought  to  the  problems  before  them,  somewhat 
vaguely  hope  that  in  the  near  future  China  will 
become  a  European  nation  ;  but  a  little  consideration 
must  convince  everybody  that  this  is  impossible. 
We  have  also  already  shown  that  China  is  quite 

determined — in  fact,  she  has  no  alternative — not  to 

36 


ORIENTAL  AND  OCCIDENTAL  37 

remain  the  old  conservative  country  that  lives  on 
ancient  traditions,  that  looks  back  two  thousand 
years  for  all  teaching  in  the  arts  of  government. 

If  China,  therefore,  is  neither  to  become  Western 
nor  to  remain  what  she  is,  of  necessity  she  will  have 
to  blend  the  two  civilisations  together  and  to  take  a 
part  from  each.  The  Chinese  themselves,  with  a 
sanguineness  for  which  they  have  no  warrant,  are 
quite  certain  that  this  is  an  easy  matter.  They  tell 
the  inquirer  that  they  have  considered  it  well,  and 
that  they  see  their  way  completely  through  it.  They 
intend  to  select  from  Europe  only  those  things  that 
are  advantageous  to  the  race,  and  they  expect  to  have 
no  difficulty  in  weaving  these  incongruous  elements 
into  their  own  very  complete  system  of  thought. 
Statesmen  seriously  say  that  three  or  four  months' 
extra  study  will  enable  the  educated  Chinaman  to 
learn  all  that  is  necessary  of  Western  civilisation, 
and  then  those  who  have  acquired  this  knowledge 
can  return  to  China  and  teach  their  fellow-country- 
men ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  convince  the  Chinese 
that  the  uniting  together  of  two  different  webs  of 
thought  is  a  matter  of  extreme  difficulty,  and,  it  may 
be  added,  of  extreme  risk.  The  pleasing  dream  that 
you  can  arbitrarily  select  the  good  points  of  West  and 
East  and  weave  them  into  one  is  the  very  reverse  of  the 
truth.  What  naturally  happens  is  the  very  opposite. 
There  is  a  tendency  to  preserve  that  which  is  bad  and 
not  that  which  is  good  in  two  different  systems  of 
thought  when  they  are  united  into  one.    The  reason 


38  CHANGING  CHINA 

probably  is  that  as  the  bad  has  its  common  origin  in 
the  wickedness  of  human  nature,  it  belongs  to  both 
systems  of  thought,  and  therefore  both  the  Chinaman 
and  the  Western  meet  on  common  ground  when  they 
meet  in  vice  or  vileness.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
virtues  of  both  are  the  result  of  moral  cultivation 
resting  on  authorities  which  are  not  recognised  by 
either.  Therefore  the  tendency  is  to  waive  all  moral 
obligations  as  resting  on  controverted  grounds.  What- 
ever may  be  the  cause,  the  result  is  obvious — the 
Westernised  Oriental,  unless  a  Christian,  is  as  a  rule 
only  one  shade  better  than  the  Orientalised  Western. 

While  the  careless  thinker  hopes  generally  that 
good  will  come  out  of  the  union  of  the  two,  he  is  as 
a  rule  terrified  lest  there  should  be  any  tendency  to 
mingle  Western  with  Eastern  thought  in  any  one  of 
whom  he  is  fond.  A  leading  man  at  Tientsin,  ex- 
tolling the  healthy  climate  of  the  place,  related  how 
he  had  kept  his  children  there  ever  since  they  were 
born.  His  friend  from  home,  ignorant  of  life  in  a 
Chinese  port,  said  in  an  appreciative  way,  "  How  nice 
it  must  be  for  your  children  to  be  able  to  speak 
Chinese ;  I  suppose  you  encourage  them  to  learn  it  ? " 
The  dweller  in  China  turned  on  him  in  anger  and  said, 
"  Thank  God,  my  children  do  not  know  one  word  of 
Chinese ;  I  would  send  them  home  to-morrow  if  I 
caught  them  learning  a  single  sentence."  This  enthu- 
siasm for  ignorance  of  the  language  of  a  great  nation 
is  extraordinarily  difficult  to  understand  until  the 
danger  of  the  mixture  of  Eastern  and  Western  thought 


ORIENTAL  AND  OCCIDENTAL  39 

is  realised.  Experience  has  taught  those  who  have 
hved  in  China  that  it  is  only  a  few  that  can  come 
unscathed  through  the  terrible  trial  of  having  to  live 
in  two  moral  atmospheres. 

One  of  the  most  striking  books  that  has  ever  been 
written  is  "  Indiscreet  Letters  from  Peking."  The 
book  is  marvellous  in  the  power  it  has  of  bringing 
before  the  eyes  of  its  reader  those  awful  scenes  during 
the  siege  of  Peking,  but  it  is  far  more  wonderful  in 
the  character  that  it  imputes  to  the  hypothetical 
narrator — a  character  typical  of  a  man  who  is  equally 
at  home  in  England  and  in  China ;  and  in  that  char- 
acter is  portrayed  a  true  but  curiously  unpleasant 
picture  of  the  characteristics  of  both  races.  The 
narrator  has  the  courage  of  a  lion ;  he  is  abso- 
lutely without  any  sense  of  honour.  He  fires  at  an 
adversary  under  the  flag  of  truce.  He  misuses  a 
Manchu  woman  who  in  the  horrors  of  the  sack 
throws  herself  on  his  mercy.  He  connives  at  the 
breaking  of  a  solemnly  pledged  word  of  honour  by  a 
soldier.  The  character  is  not  overdrawn ;  characters 
such  as  these  are  common  in  a  mixed  world,  and  it 
is  natural  that  English  people  should  fear  that  their 
children  should  grow  up  so  unutterably  vile.  But  if 
the  Englishman  fears  for  his  child,  ought  he  to  ignore 
the  welfare  of  the  country  in  which  he  lives,  and  can 
we  pass  over  this  whole  problem  as  something  that 
does  not  concern  us;  for  what  he  fears  for  his  child 
will  happen  to  the  whole  Chinese  nation. 

The  blending  together  of  the  East  and  the  West 


40 


CHANGING  CHINA 


may  be  accomplished  with  the  ease  which  the  China- 
man expects — but  not  in  the  way  in  which  he  or 
anybody  else  could  wish — it  may  be  accomplished  by 
the  eradication  of  all  that  is  good  in  either  race,  on 
the  common  ground  of  vice  and  sin  and  evil  and 
cruelty  ;  unless,  indeed,  the  efforts  of  those  who  are 
now  labouring  to  weave  together  that  which  is  good 
in  both  civilisations  are  supported.  The  difficulty 
of  preserving  the  good  points  and  high  qualities  of 
Chinese  thought  is  only  equalled  by  the  difficulty  of 
introducing  the  splendid  traditions  of  the  West  and 
grafting  them  on  to  the  Chinese  stock.  What  success 
has  followed  the  efforts  of  those  who  are  thus  labour- 
ing is  rather  to  be  credited  to  the  intensity  of  their 
efforts,  to  their  single-hearted  purpose,  to  their  ready 
self-denial,  than  to  the  ease  or  simplicity  of  their  task. 

No  man  of  any  feeling  or  any  conscience  could 
pass  indifferently  by  a  single  individual  eating  the 
berries  of  a  deadly  plant,  unconscious  that  they  were 
poison.  What  shall  be  said,  then,  if  we  allow,  not 
only  one  individual  but  a  fourth  of  the  population 
of  the  world,  to  eat  of  a  deadly  poison  which  must 
deprive  them  of  all  happiness  and  of  life,  which  must 
condemn  them  by  millions  to  the  misery  of  the  very 
blackest  darkness,  where  the  only  motives  known  are 
selfishness,  lust,  pride,  and  cruelty,  for  this  is  what 
certainly  will  happen  to  China  if  she  accepts  the 
materialism  of  the  West. 

Western  thought  is  very  powerful.  The  way  it 
has  dominated  the  forces  of  nature  gives  it  a  great 


ORIENTAL  AND  OCCIDENTAL  41 

prestige.  As  the  Chinaman  learns  about  steam  and 
electricity,  about  the  telephone,  the  flying  machine, 
radium,  and  a  thousand  more  Western  inventions,  he 
cannot  fail  to  be  impressed,  he  must  admit  that  these 
people  have  knowledge.  Do  not  for  a  moment  imagine 
that,  after  such  an  illumination,  he  will  be  able  to  go 
back  to  the  works  of  Confucius  and  learn  again  the  old 
maxims,  many  of  which  are  antipathetic  to  Western 
thought — yes,  even  more  incongruous  to  Western 
than  they  are  to  Christian  thought.  How  will  he, 
for  instance,  read  Confucius'  condemnation  of  war 
when  the  Japanese  and  Germans  and  Eussians  are 
shouting  into  his  ears,  *'  By  war  ye  shall  live  and 
by  war  alone." 

In  an  interview  I  had  with  that  great  states- 
man, Tong-Shao-Yi,  he  said,  "  We  respect  Confucius 
because  he  has  never  taught  any  man  to  err." 
Unlike  the  teaching  of  Christianity,  Confucius 
preaches  that  the  test  of  truth  is  worldly  success,  and 
therefore  by  that  test  his  preaching  will  be  tried  and 
found  wanting  by  the  materialist.  The  materialist 
will  say,  if  Confucius  never  taught  men  to  err,  how  is 
it  that  the  Western  nations  who  are  ignorant  of  his 
teaching  have  succeeded,  and  that  China,  who  out- 
numbers them  greatly,  and  who  after  years  of  edu- 
cation and  training  and  of  following  faithfully  his 
teaching,  has  failed  ?  How  is  it,  they  will  ask,  that 
she  is  so  powerless,  that  were  it  not  for  European 
jealousies  she  could  not  stand  a  day  before  the  least 
warlike  of  these  Western  nations?    The  Confucian 


42  CHANGING  CHINA 

will  answer,  "  He  taught  us  to  despise  war,  and  that 
is  why  we  are  weak."  The  materialist  will  certainly 
retort,  So  he  has  taught  you  to  err."  Confucianism 
must  fall  before  Western  materialism.  I  do  not 
speak  of  Buddhism,  for  that  is  falling  so  quickly  that 
its  influence  may  be  said  to  be  almost  gone.  China 
will  be  left  stripped  of  religion,  robbed  of  her  old  ideas, 
and  not  clothed  with  new  ones,  wandering  into  all 
the  misery  and  humiliation  that  vice  and  sin  can 
bring  upon  mankind,  till  the  curse  of  her  millions  in 
misery  will  go  out  against  the  harsh  unfeeling  West, 
who  could  leave  her  thus  blind  and  helpless  without 
a  guide. 

The  call  is  great.  Those  who  have  knowledge 
have  no  right  to  keep  it  to  themselves.  The  Christian 
and  the  Confucian  agree  in  this,  as  they  do  in  much 
else,  that  all  knowledge  must  be  shared.  One  of  the 
purposes  of  this  book  is  to  arouse  my  readers  to  the 
importance  of  taking  some  action.  Had  they  had  an 
opportunity  of  going  to  China  and  seeing  things  for 
themselves,  I  would  only  have  asked  them  to  think ; 
but  as  there  are  many  who  have  not  had  that  oppor- 
tunity, I  would  try  and  show  them  the  transitional 
condition  through  which  China  is  passing,  the  danger 
of  that  condition  ending  in  disaster,  a  disaster  wide 
as  the  world  itself  I  hope  to  show  them  what  is 
being  done  at  the  present  time  to  lead  the  Chinese 
empire  into  safe  paths,  and  to  illuminate  her  with 
the  highest  knowledge  of  the  West.  Many  efforts 
have  been  made,  and  there  has  been  much  success.  I 


ORIENTAL  AND  OCCIDENTAL  43 

am  glad  to  testify  publicly  to  the  heroic  and  self- 
denying  character  of  the  missions,  but  those  who  are 
most  successful  are  those  who  frankly  say  China  can 
never  be  led  by  aliens. 

No  race  loves  the  alien,  and  the  further  away  the 
alien  is  in  blood  and  language  the  less  he  is  loved  ; 
therefore  the  Chinese  above  all  races  are  least  fitted 
to  be  led  by  the  European,  as  they  differ  from  him  in 
most  racial  characteristics.  If  they  are  to  be  led  by 
their  own  race,  their  own  race  must  be  fit  to  lead 
them.  They  must  have  leaders  who  understand  the 
whole  of  Western  knowledge,  and  will  be  able  to 
take  what  is  true  and  leave  what  is  false.  A  Jap- 
anese thinker  said  the  other  day,  "  Our  people  have 
made  a  great  mistake — they  have  taken  the  false  and 
left  the  true  part  of  Western  thought."  Let  us  hope 
that  China  may  be  preserved  from  such  an  error,  that 
she  may  learn  Western  knowledge  so  thoroughly  and 
so  well  that  she  may  be  able  to  distinguish  the  good 
from  the  bad,  the  beautiful  from  the  vile  in  our  system 
of  thought. 


CHAPTER  IV 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  OF  CHINA 

It  is  impossible  to  study  any  Chinese  question  and 
ignore  the  relations  of  China  with  foreign  powers. 
They  are  always  curious  and  generally  unique. 
Certainly  any  one  who  goes  to  China  for  the 
purpose  of  studying  the  mission  question  cannot 
but  be  struck  at  the  extraordinary  treaty  rights 
possessed  by  missionaries.  In  most  countries  the 
teacher  of  religion  has  no  peculiar  rights.  He  is, 
alas !  more  often  bullied  than  favoured  by  the 
modern  State,  even  if  that  State  should  profess 
itself  well  inclined  towards  religion.  Therefore  one 
would  naturally  expect  in  China,  where  Christianity 
is  reputed  to  be  disliked,  that  those  who  teach  it 
would  have  to  contend  with  every  form  of  disability 
that  a  hostile  State  could  inflict. 

A  feeling  of  marvel  comes  over  the  mind  when 
one  realises  that  in  this  land  of  contradictions  the 
persecuted  missionary  enjoys  quite  peculiar  privi- 
leges. The  ordinary  foreigner  cannot,  for  instance, 
travel  in  China  except  by  the  courtesy  of  the 
Government — a  courtesy,  indeed,  which  is  never 
refused ;  but  a  missionary  may  travel  freely.  The 
ordinary   foreigner   has   no  right  to  stay  in  any 

44 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  OF  CHINA  45 

town  in  China  with  the  exception  of  the  treaty 
ports ;  a  missionary  may  stay  where  he  Hkes.  The 
ordinary  man  cannot  buy  land ;  the  missionary  has  a 
right  to  purchase  land  for  the  purpose  of  teaching 
Christianity. 

So  it  came  about,  when  we  were  in  China,  that 
His  Majesty's  Consul,  with  all  the  might  of  England 
at  his  back,  was  unable  to  buy  a  suitable  site  to 
erect  a  house  where  he  could  bring  his  wife.  He 
was  living  in  a  temple,  and  temples  in  China  are 
not  very  comfortable.  I  should  explain  to  the  un- 
initiated that  every  Buddhist  temple  has  guest- 
rooms attached  to  it — Chinese  rooms  largely  com- 
posed of  wooden  screens ;  and  these  temples  are  let 
out  as  residences  by  a  people  whose  faith  has  less 
hold  upon  their  affections  than  their  purse.  Now, 
ladies  are  not  as  a  rule  prepared  to  live  in  a  house 
with  paper  partitions  in  a  climate  where  the  winters 
are  extremely  cold ;  so  the  Consul  asked  a  missionary 
to  buy  a  piece  of  land  on  which  he  could  erect  a 
suitable  house,  and  he  had  almost  succeeded  when 
the  Chinese  Government  found  out  that  the  land 
was  not  to  be  used  for  missionary  purposes  and 
refused  to  allow  the  sale.  This  does  seem  a  strange 
situation  when  one  remembers  that  had  that  Consul 
resigned  his  appointment  and  joined  a  missionary 
body,  he  could  have  bought  the  land  and  settled 
his  wife  comfortably  in  four  solid  stone  walls,  but 
because  he  was  England's  representative  and  not 
a  missionary  he  had  to  shiver  between  wood  and 


46 


CHANGING  CHINA 


paper  screens,  and  this  in  a  country  which  is  sup- 
posed to  hate  missionaries. 

The  explanation  of  this  curious  situation  is  really 
twofold.  First,  the  hatred  that  the  official  bears  for 
the  missionary  is  not  of  such  an  intense  character  as 
to  induce  him  to  offer  a  very  strenuous  resistance  to 
the  missionaries  who  desire  to  buy  land  ;  and  secondly, 
missionaries  have  peculiar  and  special  rights  secured 
to  them  by  a  series  of  treaties  among  the  most 
curious  in  the  history  of  diplomacy. 

In  1844  the  Americans  got  by  treaty  a  right  to 
the  free  exercise  of  the  Christian  religion  in  the  open 
ports.  This  right,  sufficiently  remarkable  in  itself,  has 
often  been  stipulated  by  a  State  for  its  own  nationals 
resident  in  a  foreign  country,  but  I  doubt  if  it  has 
ever  before  been  known  for  a  country  to  insist  on 
the  right  of  preaching  a  religion  to  somebody  else's 
citizens.  This  was  obviously  an  interference  of  the 
sovereign  rights  of  China. 

It  was  pushed  even  further  in  1860.  The  French 
and  English  had  just  completed  the  sack  of  the 
"Summer  Palace,"  and  whatever  the  justice  or  the 
injustice  of  the  war  may  have  been,  China  had  tasted 
her  first  great  lesson  of  humiliation  from  the  hand 
of  Western  powers,  and  was  in  no  condition  to  resist 
any  of  their  demands.  The  English  and  the  French 
made  treaties,  most  of  them  concerned  with  com- 
mercial and  military  matters  with  which  it  is  not 
necessary  to  trouble  the  reader,  and  the  French  had 
a  condition  which  was  quite  reasonable,  that  the 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  OF  CHINA  47 


Chinese  should  restore  all  the  buildings  that  had 
been  destroyed  in  the  late  troubles ;  the  wording 
of  the  clause  was  so  vague  that  it  could  be  made 
to  apply,  and  did  apply,  to  any  building  which  had 
been  destroyed  at  any  previous  time  in  the  history 
of  China,  but  the  most  remarkable  part  of  the  clause 
needs  further  explanation.  The  French  had  as  their 
interpreter  a  very  able  Jesuit,  Pere  Delamarre,  and 
as  the  French  Minister  could  not  read  Chinese,  he 
had  to  trust  his  interpreter  with  regard  to  the 
Chinese  version,  and  this  man  inserted  into  the 
treaty  two  other  provisions,  one  securing  that 
Christians  should  have  a  right  to  the  free  exercise 
of  their  religion  all  over  China,  and  the  other  that 
French  missionaries  should  have  the  right  to  rent 
land  in  all  the  provinces  in  the  empire  and  to  buy 
and  construct  houses.  When  this  pious  fraud  was 
discovered,  the  French  Minister  thought  it  would 
do  no  good  to  denounce  his  interpreter,  and  there- 
fore the  treaty  was  treated  by  the  French  as  bind- 
ing and  never  questioned  by  the  Chinese ;  the  other 
powers  profited  by  it  under  the  "  most  favoured 
nation"  clause. 

The  Roman  Catholics  a  few  years  later  pushed 
the  wording  of  this  treaty  to  its  uttermost.  Their 
missions  had  been  at  work  for  150  years  or  more, 
and  they  could  prove  a  great  number  of  confisca- 
tions which  had  to  be  made  good  by  the  Chinese. 
Just  at  that  time  in  France  Napoleon  III.  was  trying 
to  establish  a  doubtful  title  by  the  help  of  the  Pope, 


48 


CHANGING  CHINA 


aud  it  was  his  policy  to  push  in  every  way  the 
interests  of  the  Roman  Catholics.  China  had  felt 
the  weight  of  European  armies  and  she  was  unable 
to  resist  these  claims,  and  so  it  came  about  that 
the  very  country  which  now  is  the  centre  of  free 
thought  was  the  means  of  forcing  Christianity  upon 
the  Chinese  through  fear  of  her  armed  power. 

Can  you  be  surprised  at  the  answer  I  got  when 
I  asked  a  Chinese  statesman,  who  I  knew  was  sympa- 
thetic with  the  teaching  of  Christianity,  why  China, 
who  had  always  professed,  and  to  a  very  great  extent 
had  practised  tolerance,  should  persecute  Christianity  ? 
His  reply  was,  the  Chinese  did  not  hate  Christianity, 
and  were  indeed  tolerant  of  missions,  but  they  still 
disliked  them,  because  Christianity  is  the  religion  of 
the  military  races,  and  they  had  a  historical  tradition 
that  the  advance  of  Christianity  was  connected  with 
war. 

This  bad  reputation  has  been  intensified  by 
the  action  of  the  Germans.  No  reasonable  man 
can  condemn  the  Germans  for  wishing  to  enlarge 
and  develop  their  trade.  We  can  understand  the 
patriotic  German  saying  that  it  was  the  duty  of 
Germany  to  establish  good  government  in  Shantung, 
but  it  is  very  hard  to  understand  how  any  one  can 
defend  the  taking  of  Kiauchau  on  the  ground  that 
certain  German  missionaries  had  been  murdered. 
The  taking  of  Kiauchau  by  the  Germans  has 
completed  the  work  begun  by  the  French.  Chris- 
tianity and  the  foreign  relations  of  China  are  in- 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  OF  CHINA  49 

extricably  mixed  up,  and  every  Chinaman  believed 
till  lately  that  Christianity  was  the  religion  which 
has  led  foreign  nations  to  enter  his  land.  "  First 
the  missionary,  then  the  trader,  lastly  the  gun- 
boat," has  been  too  often  the  order  of  advance.  I 
am  happy  to  be  able  to  say  that  the  Americans  and 
the  English  have  made  great  efforts  to  dissociate 
themselves  from  this  evil,  and  have  tried  to  avoid 
any  appearance  of  such  a  connection.  I  was  told 
that  in  Shansi,  owing  to  the  indemnity  for  the 
murders  of  missionaries  being  retained  to  China  and 
spent  on  founding  a  University  instead  of  being  ac- 
cepted by  the  missions,  Protestant  missions  are  very 
popular.  You  have  only  to  say  you  are  an  English 
clergyman,"  said  my  Chinese  informant,  "and  every 
door  will  be  open  to  you." 

The  present  aspect  of  foreign  affairs  has  tended 
to  destroy  the  unfortunate  connection  between  Chris- 
tianity and  foreign  aggression.  The  two  great  powers 
whose  armies  have  met  in  Manchuria  have  neither  of 
them  any  interest  in  missions.  Russia  has  never  had 
any  missions  in  China.  She  forbade  them,  I  under- 
stand, because  they  were  likely  to  embroil  her  in 
unnecessary  wars.  Japan,  of  course,  has  none.  The 
Germans,  who  made  the  murder  of  missionaries  the 
reason  of  aggression,  have  not  many  missionaries  in 
China  belonging  to  their  nationality.  China,  therefore, 
is  coming  to  look  upon  Christianity  as  not  quite  so 
dangerous  a  thing  as  it  seemed  when  it  was  essen- 
tially the  religion  of  the  French  and  of  the  English 

P 


50  CHANGING  CHINA 

whose  armies  and  navies  then  held  China  in  fear. 
Still  the  political  situation  cannot  but  have  great 
interest  to  the  missionary.  Even  while  he  rejoices 
that  the  foreign  relations  of  China  and  his  work  are 
not  so  intimately  connected  as  they  used  to  be,  he 
must  ask  himself,  what  will  the  result  to  my  work  be, 
if  in  the  great  world  struggle  J apan  or  Hussia  should 
dominate?  At  present  he  fears  Japan  more  than 
Russia  ;  and  his  fears  are  shared,  but  for  other  reasons, 
by  the  Chinese. 

The  wildest  and  most  ambitious  schemes  are 
accredited  to  Japan,  I  cannot  say  with  how  much 
truth.  Her  purse  is  empty,  but  she  has  far  more 
courage  and  skill  in  war  than  most  nations.  If  she 
possessed  even  one  part  of  China  she  might  add  to 
her  wealth  to  such  an  extent  that  no  race  could  dare 
to  oppose  her,  while  if  she  governed  China,  her  armies, 
supported  by  the  wealth  of  that  mighty  empire,  might 
threaten  the  stability  of  Europe.  She  is  reported  to 
have  two  regiments  working  as  private  individuals  in 
Fukien,  and  to  be  prepared  to  seize  the  province  in 
case  of  any  disorder.  The  fact  that  there  are  many 
Japanese  in  the  province,  and  that  all  the  Japanese  are 
trained  soldiers,  gives  some  cloak  to  this  suggestion. 
The  Fukienese  speak  a  different  dialect  to  the  rest  of 
China,  and  they  have  a  natural  geographical  frontier, 
which  would  enable  the  Japanese  to  maintain  them- 
selves there  if  they  were  once  established. 

Again,  the  recent  events  have  shown  that  they  are 
preparing  to  exercise  sovereign  rights  over  Chinese 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  OF  CHINA  51 

territory  in  Manchuria.  On  the  other  hand,  Russia  is 
arming  ;  she  is  double-tracking  the  railway  from  St. 
Petersburg  to  Irkutsk,  and  she  is  getting  ready  again 
for  a  struggle  in  Manchuria ;  the  gossip  among  the 
officers  there  is  that  there  is  to  be  a  war ;  the  Rus- 
sians do  not  for  a  moment  regard  themselves  as  de- 
feated; they  think  of  the  late  campaign  merely  as 
an  "unfortunate  incident." 

But  the  most  important  development  in  Russian 
policy  is  the  proposed  railway  across  Mongolia  which 
will  give  Russia  an  entrance  to  the  west  of  China 
and  into  Peking.  It  is  hard  to  see  how,  if  an  advance 
were  made  along  that  line,  Japan  could  in  any  way 
resist  Russia ;  the  whole  breadth  of  China  would  lie 
between  them.  Meanwhile  the  Germans  of  the  east 
have  perfected  a  railway  system  which  converts  Kiau- 
chau  from  being  an  out-of-the-way  place  which  no 
one  cared  about,  to  a  door  into  the  very  heart  of 
China.  In  commercial  circles  in  China  it  is  reported 
that  the  Commandant  of  the  Tientsin  garrison  sug- 
gested that  the  object  of  the  building  of  the  Germau 
Fleet  was  not  so  much  to  conquer  England  as  to 
ensure  that  Germany  should  be  able  to  maintain  her 
position  in  the  Far  East  and  make  full  use  of  Kiau- 
chau  as  a  way  by  which  her  armies  might  enter 
China.  When  one  looks  at  the  map  and  sees  how 
China  is  surrounded  by  these  powers,  and  how  they 
are  pressing  upon  her,  one  realises  why  the  Chinese 
are  feeling  that  Western  education  is  an  absolute 
necessity,  and  that  if  they  are  to  maintain  their 


52  CHANGING  CHINA 

independence  they  must  understand  the  arts  of  war. 
A  great  Viceroy  was  reported  to  have  said  that 
he  frankly  expected  China  to  be  conquered,  and  to 
learn  from  her  conquerors  the  Western  arts  which 
would  in  turn  enable  her  to  dominate  the  West ; 
for  this  has  been  her  history  in  the  past,  that  may 
be  her  history  in  the  future,  and  I  think  that  the 
nations,  who  propose  to  conquer  her,  will  do  wisely 
if  they  consider  what  might  be  the  result  of  her 
influence  on  them. 

China  is  trying  to  defend  herself  by  building  a 
navy  and  creating  an  army.  The  navy  is  rather 
an  opera  houffe  concern  ;  every  now  and  then  she 
talks  of  having  ships ;  the  representatives  of  all 
the  shipbuilders  of  the  world  fly  to  Peking  and 
try  in  every  way  to  induce  China  to  buy  a  fleet 
which  they  ofler  to  provide  at  the  very  shortest 
notice,  but  at  present  she  has  none.  She  has,  as  a 
practical  step,  created  a  training  school  of  officers. 
It  consists  only  of  some  140  men,  and  is  taught  by 
two  British  officers  lent  her  by  our  navy.  They  said 
that  there  was  the  greatest  difficulty  in  getting  the 
Chinese  to  be  practical  ;  they  induced  the  Govern- 
ment at  last  to  put  an  old  ship  at  their  disposal.  For 
a  long  time  this  was  refused,  and  when  it  was  granted 
it  was  regarded  as  a  most  wonderful  and  original 
departure.  The  Chinese  way  of  training  naval 
officers  would  have  been  to  have  instructed  them 
on  literary  subjects,  and  to  encourage  them  to  write 
essays  and  poems  on  the  sea.    To  take  them  out  on 


FOREIGN  relations'  OF  CHINA  53 

the  Yangtsze  in  a  ship  and  actually  to  show  them 
how  a  ship  was  managed,  was  a  wholly  new  idea, 
but  one  of  which  they  approve  under  the  impulse 
of  the  modern  fashion  of  doing  things  in  accordance 
with  Western  traditions. 

As  to  the  army,  its  exterior  is  certainly  not  pre- 
possessing ;  far  and  away  the  most  efficient  part  of 
it  has  been  created  by  Yuan-Shi- Kei  in  Manchuria, 
and  the  Chinese  are  very  anxious  to  show  it  to  the 
passing  traveller.  Both  times  when  we  passed 
through  Manchuria,  on  every  station  were  armed 
guards,  and  in  one  case  they  were  inspected  by  a 
General  who  was  travelling  in  our  train.  He  was 
saluted  by  the  officers  in  charge  in  Chinese  fashion, 
which  is  a  modified  form  of  a  kow-tow,  and  consists 
to  all  intents  and  purposes  of  a  curtsey.  It  had  a 
distinctly  funny  appearance  to  see  the  officers  in 
charge  of  the  guards  curtseying  as  we  steamed  into 
the  stations.  Down  at  Nanking  the  army  was  far 
less  smart — in  fact,  it  had  the  appearance  of  being 
a  very  disorderly  rabble ;  I  understand  when  the 
Empress  died  it  was  regarded  as  such  a  danger 
that  those  in  authority  put  the  broad  Yangtsze  be- 
tween them  and  a  possible  mutiny. 

The  real  danger  to  China  as  regards  foreign 
relations  is  that  her  bad  finance  or  her  own  want 
of  discipline  may  bring  about  a  state  of  internal 
disorder  which  may  compel  the  interference  of 
foreign  powers.  Last  year  this  nearly  did  happen. 
Two  regiments  mutinied  and  seized  a  town  on  the 


54  CHANGING  CHINA 

Yangtsze ;  they  sto]3ped  all  communications  with 
the  outside  world,  and  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
were  in  a  fair  way  to  commence  a  rebellion.  Close 
by  them  were  several  other  regiments  who  might 
be  expected  to  throw  in  their  lot  with  them,  and 
the  position  was  very  critical.  The  missionaries 
inside  the  town  were  in  fear  of  their  lives,  and  with 
difficulty  managed  to  communicate  with  the  British 
Consul  and  to  tell  him  of  their  plight.  He  ordered  a 
gunboat  to  go  down,  and  the  presence  of  the  gunboat 
intimidated  the  mutineers.  At  the  same  time  the 
Governor  of  the  city  showed  remarkable  courage  in 
going  round  the  town  pacifying  the  mob.  The 
authorities  were  able  to  move  in  two  other  regi- 
ments, who  had  no  sympathy  with  the  mutiny.  The 
mutineers  were  disarmed  and  the  incident  closed. 
But  such  an  incident  may  occur  at  any  moment.  The 
condition  of  the  country  is  such  that  anywhere  a 
rising  may  occur,  and  the  fire  once  alight  may  be 
hard  to  extinguish  ;  the  result  of  the  conflagration 
must  be  that  the  powers  must  enter  to  secure  the 
safety  of  their  nationals. 

Altogether  poor  China  is  in  a  dangerous  position 
in  regard  to  her  foreign  relations ;  all  round  her 
echoes  the  cry,  "  You  must  reform  or  disappear." 
Every  railway  that  is  made,  every  loan  that  is 
floated,  every  trade  that  is  opened  up,  bring  to 
China  increased  responsibilities  in  her  foreign  re- 
lations. If  she  by  her  good  government  and  readi- 
ness to  reform  can  show  that  she  is  able  to  maintain 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  OF  CHINA  55 

order  in  her  own  land,  and  to  give  to  foreigners  an 
equal  security  to  that  they  have  in  any  other  country, 
her  empire  may  endure  for  many  hundred  years ; 
but  if  she  be  found  wanting  at  the  present  time  and 
the  corruption  of  her  officials  renders  her  unable 
to  maintain  order  in  her  country  or  to  fulfil  her 
financial  obligations,  a  new  phase  in  Chinese  history 
will  be  reached,  which  will,  I  believe,  be  of  extra- 
ordinary danger  to  Europe  ;  China  will  yield  to  the 
military  might  of  the  West  only  to  rise  again 
to  dominate  those  who  dominated  her. 

The  missionary  who  looks  at  these  dark  clouds 
which  surround  China,  the  land  of  his  adoption,  feels 
that  there  is  only  one  course  to  take,  namely,  the 
course  that  he  is  taking,  to  try  and  build  up  in  China 
a  high  tone  of  morality,  founded  on  religion,  which 
may  enable  her  to  accept  necessary  reforms  and  to 
put  herself  abreast  of  other  nations. 


CHAPTER  V 


CHINESE  CIVILISATION— ITS  WEAK  SIDE 

I  DO  not  suppose  that  we  can  have  any  conception 

of  the  amount  of  suffering  which  goes  on  at  the 

present  time  in  China.     The  first  time  we  were  in 

China  I  had  the  honour  of  meeting  a  Mr.  Ede, 

who  had  just   returned  from  distributing  food  in 

a  famine-stricken  district,  and  his  description  was 

truly  terrible ;   the  young  men  had  walked  away 

and   found   work   in   other  districts,  but  the  old 

people  and  the  children  had  to  remain.    What  had 

caused  the  famine  in  this  case  was  characteristic 

of  unreformed  China ;  "  China's  sorrow,"  the  river 

Hoang-ho,  had  done  what  it  is  ever  doing,  that 

is,  it  had  flooded  a  district.    When  you  pass  over 

it,  it  looks  most  innocuous.    It  is  wholly  unable,  as 

a  rule,  to  fill  its  own  vast  bed,  which  is  covered 

with   delightful   sands,    reminding  one  more  than 

anything  else  of  the  sea-shore  at  low  tide  ;  but  this 

sand  is  what  makes  it  dangerous,  for  it  is  not  good 

heavy  English   sand,  but   a   light   sand  which  is 

called  "  loess,"  and  when  the  river  comes  down  in  a 

flood — that  is  to  say,  when  they  have  rainy  weather 

in  Thibet  or  the  sun  shines  unduly  on  Himalayan 

snows — this  sand  is  carried  along  with  the  water, 

56 


CHINESE  CIVILISATION  57 

and  it  is  asserted  indeed  that  the  river  consists 
more  of  sand  than  of  water;  as  the  river  slackens 
the  sand  is  deposited  and  the  bed  is  filled  up,  with 
the  result  that  the  next  flood,  taking  the  Chinese 
unawares,  overflows  its  banks  and  reduces  a  huge 
district  to  poverty ;  they  cannot  sow  their  fields 
because  they  cannot  see  them.  Of  course  the 
authorities  should  not  be  taken  by  surprise  and 
the  banks  should  be  made  up,  and  canals  should 
be  cut  to  take  away  the  water  in  case  of  a  flood ; 
an  enlightened  Chinese  engineer  assured  me  he  had 
a  scheme  for  raising  the  level  of  huge  districts  of 
China  by  using  this  peculiar  character  of  the  Hoang- 
ho  and  turning  its  sand  and  water  flood  on  to  bare 
places,  and  he  asserted  that  the  results  were  most 
wonderfully  successful,  and  that  districts  which  were 
unfertile  before,  when  well  washed  and  covered  up 
with  this  loess,  became  fertile.  Still,  however  bene- 
ficial a  flood  may  be  to  the  land  in  the  end,  its 
immediate  result  is  to  starve  the  population  who 
are  flooded  out,  for  they  have  no  reserves  of  food. 

In  the  case  already  referred  to,  the  country  was  a 
long  time  under  water,  because  a  canal  which  should 
have  drained  it  away  was  not  kept  clear.  The 
money  had  been  paid,  but,  as  often  happens  in 
China,  the  work  had  not  been  done.  The  action 
that  the  authorities  took  was  characteristic  of 
Chinese  government.  China  possesses  the  system 
of  internal  custom-houses  —  a  system  which  the 
wildest  advocate  of  Tarifi*  Reform  would  hardly  like 


58  CHANGING  CHINA 

to  see  introduced  into  Europe ;  these  custom-houses 
are  called  *'Likin,"  and  are  a  source  at  once  of  a 
great  deal  of  profit  to  the  provinces  and  of  irrita- 
tion to  all  traders.  The  Chinese  used  these  custom- 
houses to  engineer  a  corner  in  rice  by  which  the 
area  of  scarcity  of  food  was  enormously  increased 
and  several  officials  amassed  considerable  sums  of 
money ;  by  the  law  of  China  it  is  illegal  to  export 
rice  even  from  one  province  to  another ;  this  law 
was  put  in  force,  and  the  rice  supply  was  cut  off; 
at  the  same  time  early  in  the  famine  certain  rich 
men  bought  up  rice  freely,  with  the  result  that  it 
rose  to  a  very  high  figure,  so  that  round  the  area 
of  famine  and  desolation  there  was  an  area  of 
scarcity  and  shortage. 

A  large  amount  of  food  from  all  parts  of  the 
world  was  sent  by  the  famine  funds,  but  it  was 
very  diflficult  to  induce  the  officials  to  allow  the 
food  to  enter  the  famine  district.  They  were  filled 
with  all  sorts  of  scruples.  They  were  afraid,  for 
instance,  that  the  steamers  towing  the  barges  full 
of  food  on  a  canal  which  had  not  before  been  opened 
for  steamers,  might  excite  the  hostility  of  the  popu- 
lation ;  they  were  courteous,  they  were  diplomatic, 
but  they  were  obstructive ;  and  so  it  came  about 
that  while  there  was  a  famine  in  one  district  of 
China,  in  the  other  districts  there  was  a  very  heavy 
surplus,  of  which  they  had  difficulty  in  disposing. 
All  this  did  not  create  the  slightest  surprise  in 
those  who  knew  China.    When  the  story  was  told 


CHINESE  CIVILISATION  59 

us  all  the  old  Chinese  hands  merely  said,  "  How 
like  China,"  or  "  Just  like  them."  This  was  our 
first  insight  into  what  the  civilisation  of  China 
means,  and  therefore  for  the  first  time  we  realised 
the  problem  that  is  before  the  world — the  problem 
which  missionaries,  with  great  devotion,  are  trying 
to  solve. 

Chinese  civilisation  is  not,  as  many  people  imagine 
it  to  be,  a  mere  courtesy  title  for  a  state  in  reality 
only  a  degree  oflP  barbarism.  Many  of  my  humbler 
parishioners,  for  instance,  when  we  left  for  China, 
ranked  the  Chinese  as  something  very  near  cannibals, 
and  I  do  not  think  they  would  have  been  in  the 
least  surprised  to  hear  that  we  had  been  roasted 
and  eaten  by  the  natives.  The  Chinese  have  per- 
haps a  greater  right  to  be  called  civilised  than  we 
have  on  this  side  of  the  world ;  their  civilisation 
dates  from  eras  we  are  accustomed  to  call  Biblical. 
Confucius  and  Ezra  represent  contemporaneous  ideas 
— ideas  that  are  not  wholly  different  in  thought. 
While  on  the  other  side  of  the  globe  civilisation 
has  been  handed  from  nation  to  nation,  and  a 
civilised  race  has  become  barbarous  and  a  barbarous 
race  civilised,  the  Chinese,  without  making  any  very 
great  advance,  have  steadily  proceeded  along  a  path 
of  progress,  and  at  the  present  time  they  possess  a 
very  carefully  organised  system  of  society.  On  paper 
the  whole  thing  is  perfect  :  the  Emperor  at  the  top, 
the  Viceroys  over  each  province,  under  them  the 
Prefectures,  and  so  down  to  the  village  community 


6o  CHANGING  CHINA 

in  the  country  or  the  trade  guild  in  the  town. 
The  system  of  government  is  so  perfect  that  they 
claim  that  they  are  able  to  discover  any  individual 
wanted  among  those  400,000,000  of  Chinese,  unless 
his  disguise  is  very  perfect.  When  we  were  chatting 
over  the  revolutionaries  and  talking  about  a  certain 
doctor  dodging  in  and  out  of  China  at  the  risk  of 
his  life,  I  said  that  I  wondered  that  there  was  any 
difficulty  at  all  for  a  man  who  was  bred  in  the 
country  wandering  where  he  liked,  and  I  was 
assured  that  such  was  the  organisation  of  the 
Chinese  Government  that  they  could  lay  hands  even 
in  the  remxOtest  village  on  anybody  if  they  required 
him,  and  that  the  only  way  a  revolutionary  could 
hope  to  escape  arrest  was  by  a  most  perfect  and 
complete  disguise. 

With  this  splendid  organisation  is  joined  great 
solidarity.  The  Chinese  race  are  essentially  one.  If 
it  were  your  duty  to  look  through  reports  coming 
from  China,  as  it  has  been  mine,  the  first  thing  that 
would  strike  you  would  be  its  essential  oneness ;  you 
will  not  find  more  difference  between  different  parts 
of  China  than  there  is  between  England  and  Ireland. 
I  do  not  for  a  moment  mean  to  say  that  there  are 
no  differences  between  the  Chinese — that  would  be 
untrue ;  but  you  will  not  find  such  a  difference  as  one 
might  expect  from  the  diversity  of  geographical  con- 
ditions. The  civilisation  is  essentially  similar.  It  is 
a  civilisation  with  great  merits.  The  population  is 
sober,  industrious,  and  perhaps  I  might  add  honest, 


CHINESE  CIVILISATION  6i 


all  lovers  of  China  will  certainly  agree ;  but  if  you 
are  writing,  as  I  am,  to  people  who  have  never  been 
out  of  England,  I  think  you  will  have  to  qualify  the 
phrase  with  some  such  a  one  as  "  honest  as  compared 
with  other  Orientals,"  or  honest  when  contrasted 
with  the  Japanese." 

They  are  also  extremely  obedient ;  their  idea  of 
the  respect  which  should  be  paid  to  authority  far 
exceeds  that  which  prevails  on  this  side  of  the  globe. 
I  think  we  may  add  with  truth  that  great  numbers 
of  them  are  very  loyal  to  their  employers.  But  when 
this  much  has  been  said,  the  dark  side  of  their 
civilisation  must  be  added — it  is  essentially  corrupt 
and  cruel ;  the  ideas  of  honour,  purity,  mercy  are 
but  too  little  understood.  Missionaries  assured  us 
that  there  was  no  word  for  purity  that  could  be 
applied  to  a  man,  while  the  same  word  stands  for 
honesty  and  stupidity. 

Yet  this  nation  is  in  many  ways  well  fitted  for 
the  mechanical  age  in  which  we  live.  What  the 
owner  of  the  factory  wants  is  an  industrious,  sober, 
and  obedient  man,  and  he  does  not  want,  or  at  least 
does  not  realise  that  he  wants,  an  honourable,  pure, 
and  merciful  man.  The  Chinaman  will  be  in  his 
element  in  the  factory  ;  the  long  hours  of  monotonous 
toil  will  not  be  unpleasant  to  him ;  he  is  always  sober — 
in  fact,  he  is  by  nature  and  culture  the  ideal  factory 
hand ;  and  yet  this  is  what  constitutes  his  danger. 
He  will  tend  to  introduce  into  Europe  the  vices  which 
are  now  desolating  his  own  country,  unless,  indeed, 


62  CHANGING  CHINA 


the  European  teacher  can  help  him  to  eradicate  those 
vices. 

I  have  given  you  some  idea  of  his  corruption  by 
the  story  told  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter,  but 
we  heard  many  others  all  to  the  same  effect.  We 
went  up  the  Yangtsze  in  one  of  the  China  Merchants' 
boats  with  an  old  Swedish  captain  who  liked  the 
Chinese  and  rather  disliked  the  missionaries,  so  his 
evidence  was  not  biassed  by  any  wish  to  prove  that 
our  civilisation  was  more  perfect  than  that  of  the 
Chinese.  We  asked  him  why  it  was  that  he  being 
a  European  should  be  captain  of  a  ship  that  was 
owned  by  Chinese,  and  largely  used  by  them.  He 
told  us  that  the  Chinese  merchants  had  once  tried 
to  have  a  Chinese  captain,  but  the  moment  the  ship 
reached  the  first  port  of  the  Yangtsze,  the  custom 
officers  were  on  board  rummaging  here  and  rummaging 
there.  Very  soon  a  large  amount  of  contraband  was 
found  on  the  ship,  put  there  with  the  knowledge 
of  the  captain.  The  consequence  was  the  ship  was 
fined  and  delayed.  They  tried  Chinese  captains 
again  and  again  with  the  same  result,  and  so  they 
have  been  reduced  to  employ  Europeans  to  secure 
honourable  officers.  He,  however,  had  to  confess  that 
the  Chinese  distrusted  the  sobriety  of  the  European 
officers,  and  assured  us  that  the  old  comprador  on 
board,  one  of  whose  duties  apparently  was  to  look 
after  the  passengers  and  take  their  tickets,  was  in 
reality  a  spy  on  them. 

Perhaps  the  best  instance  of  the  corruption  of  the 


CHINESE  CIVILISATION  63 


Chinese  is  their  action  with  regard  to  the  currency. 
In  the  good  old  days  the  currency  of  China  was  the 
silver  shoe  or  ingot,  which  had  no  exact  weight,  and 
had  therefore  to  be  weighed  at  every  transaction. 
Below  that  was  the  copper  currency,  which  had  no  fixed 
relation  to  the  silver  currency,  but  only  the  relation 
of  copper  to  silver.  A  copper  cash,  therefore,  repre- 
sented only  its  actual  value  in  copper.  It  was  natu- 
rally a  most  unwieldy  coin.  The  old  books  of  travel 
in  China  give  lamentable  pictures  of  the  traveller 
riding  about  with  huge  strings  of  copper  cash  almost 
crushing  him  with  their  weight.  When  the  whites 
began  to  trade  in  China  they  introduced  the  Mexican 
dollar  with  its  subsidiary  coinage,  and  this  was  the 
common  currency  in  all  the  ports  until  a  few  years 
ago ;  but  when  the  Chinese  began  to  Westernise  they 
considered  it  inconsistent  with  their  dignity  not  to 
have  a  coinage  of  their  own.  Led  by  the  Japanese, 
and  assisted  by  several  firms  whose  speciality  was 
the  erection  of  mints  and  mintage  machinery,  they 
started  mints  all  over  the  country,  and  they  have 
kept  these  mints  busy  with  the  most  funeste  results. 
To  begin  with,  they  coined  a  dollar  in  imitation  of  the 
Mexican  dollar,  but  even  in  this  the  mints  did  not 
agree.  Some  dollars  are  very  light,  some  slightly 
below  value,  and  some  are  nearly  true.  The  first 
experience  of  the  traveller  is  that  he  possesses  in  his 
pocket  a  set  of  coins  which  no  one  will  accept,  except 
at  a  great  reduction.  But  the  muddle  goes  further 
than  that.    It  was  very  profitable  coining  light  coins, 


64  CHANGING  CHINA 

but  it  was  still  more  profitable  to  do  so  in  the  lower 
denominations.  The  Chinese  thought,  or  chose  to 
think,  that  it  did  not  matter  what  the  intrinsic  value 
of  a  10-cent  piece  was  as  long  as  you  wrote  on  it 
10  cents.  They  have  no  bank  or  post-office  where 
you  have  a  legal  right  to  get  a  dollar  for  ten  10-cent 
pieces,  and  the  result  therefore  of  recklessly  coining 
the  base  10-cent  pieces  has  been  not  only  to  de- 
preciate it  with  regard  to  the  dollar,  but  to  make 
it  an  uncertain  value,  so  that  you  must  go  to  the 
money  exchangers  almost  every  morning  and  ask 
for  the  rate  of  exchange  between  the  dollar  and 
the  small  silver  pieces. 

Of  course  at  every  step  on  this  downward  path  the 
officials  concerned  made  a  great  deal  of  money  ;  their 
next  step  was  to  deal  with  the  copper  coin  in  the  same 
way,  so  now  there  is  no  fixed  relation  between  the 
copper  coinage  and  the  silver  coinage,  nor  between 
the  large  copper  and  the  small,  and  this  is  still 
further  confusing,  as  the  provinces  having  different 
mints  have  dollars  of  different  values.  And  now  I 
hear  that  they  have  begun  to  make  money  by  debasing 
the  old  silver  shoe  coinage,  which,  though  it  is  sold 
by  weight,  used  to  have  a  certain  standard  of  purity, 
and  they  have  issued  cash  which  have  no  intrinsic 
value  at  all,  and  that  do  not  represent  the  fraction 
of  a  coin  having  any  intrinsic  value.  The  result  of 
this  currency  "Rake's  Progress"  has  been  to  pro- 
duce what  corruption  always  does  produce — widespread 
poverty.     Everybody  cheats.     The  stationmasters 


CHINESE  CIVILISATION  65 

along  the  line  assure  the  European  superintendents 
that  the  fares  are  always  paid  in  the  most  debased 
coinage,  and  it  is  very  hard  to  deny  the  probability 
of  this.  But  of  course  the  stationmasters  take  care 
if  any  coin  comes  to  their  hand  which  is  not  debased 
to  do  a  bit  of  exchange  on  their  own  account. 

If  Chinese  civilisation  is  corrupt,  it  is  also  cruel, 
not  with  the  wild  tempestuous  cruelty  of  the  savage, 
but  with  the  cruelty  of  the  civilised  man  who  at  once 
uses  human  suffering  as  the  best  engine  for  human 
government,  and  never  cares  to  cure  it  unless  he  has 
some  pecuniary  object  in  view.  The  Chinese  are  inured 
to  pain,  and  some  people  argue  that  they  do  not  feel  it 
to  the  same  degree  as  Western  nations.  No  doubt 
the  sensation  of  pain  is  intensified  in  people  of  highly 
developed  nervous  organisation,  and  the  Chinese  have 
a  nervous  organisation  of  a  very  quiescent  kind.  I 
remember,  when  we  first  landed  at  Hong-Kong,  being 
struck  by  a  Chinaman  who  had  chosen  as  his  bed 
for  his  midday  siesta  an  ordinary  piece  of  granite 
curbing  ;  and  as  you  go  along  in  the  train  every 
freight  car  that  you  pass  has  some  one  sleeping  on 
it  to  protect  it  fi:om  robbery,  and  a  truck  of  coals  or 
a  load  of  stone  is  obviously  regarded  as  a  most  com- 
fortable resting-place.  Some  of  the  doctors  main- 
tained that  this  was  the  case  throughout  their 
nervous  system — they  were  insensitive  to  pain ; 
others  said  that  pain,  like  everything  else,  is  a  thing 
to  which  you  can  get  accustomed,  and  that  pain  has 
played  so  large  a  part  in  their  lives  that  they  are 

E 


66  CHANGING  CHINA 


accustomed  to  it,  and  are  not  therefore  afraid  of  it. 
Take,  for  instance,  the  foot-binding  of  the  women; 
every  family  in  China  must  be  accustomed  to  hear 
the  sobs  and  cries  of  the  Httle  girls  as  they  are  going 
through  the  first  stages  of  foot-binding.  Or  take 
again  the  public  flogging ;  all  the  working  classes  of 
China  must  be  quite  accustomed  to  the  idea  that 
men  are  flogged  for  certain  offences  till  their  flesh 
is  of  the  consistency  of  a  jelly.  A  doctor,  describing 
the  state  in  which  men  are  brought  into  the  hospital 
after  such  floggings,  said  that  it  was  a  difficult  matter 
to  avoid  mortification  setting  in,  and  it  was  only  with 
very  careful  treatment  that  they  could  be  cured,  the 
whole  flesh  having  to  slough  away,  being  absolutely 
crushed  and  battered. 

Yet  this  strange  people  are  so  indifferent  to 
these  horrors,  that  even  those  who  suffer  will  laugh 
amidst  their  sufferings.  We  were  told  the  following 
tale,  whether  true  or  not  I  cannot  say.  A  man  was 
being  bambooed  for  an  offence,  and  astonished  the 
officials  by  laughing  all  the  time  ;  the  more  he  was 
flogged  the  harder  he  laughed,  till  at  last  those  who 
were  punishing  him  stopped  to  ask  him  the  reason 
of  his  mirth.  "  You  have  got  the  wrong  man,"  he 
said.  It  is  always  a  comfort  to  have  a  keen  sense 
of  humour. 

I  do  not  think  there  is  anything  more  awful  than 
the  descriptions  one  has  as  to  the  indifference  to 
suffering  that  is  displayed  by  the  average  Chinaman. 
I  remember  a  story  told  me  by  a  sailor.    As  a  ship 


CHINESE  CIVILISATION  67 

was  being  loaded,  a  man,  obviously  on  the  verge  of 
death,  came  and  asked  for  work,  but  failed  to  get  it. 
Shortly  after  he  was  seen  hanging  about  the  ship, 
and  at  night  they  found  him  lying  between  some 
bales.  He  was  turned  out,  but  he  constantly  crept 
back,  first  to  one  place,  then  to  another,  till  at  last 
the  sailor  came  to  know  his  face  quite  well.  One 
day,  as  the  sailor  went  ashore,  he  was  attracted  by 
a  little  crowd  looking  at  something,  and  this  proved 
to  be  the  poor  fellow  in  his  death  struggle,  lying  in  a 
gutter  of  water.  He  called  the  attention  of  a  Chinese 
policeman  to  him.  The  Chinese  policeman  explained 
that  he  would  move  him  when  he  was  dead,  as  he 
had  orders  to  remove  all  corpses,  but  that  he  could 
not  move  him  while  he  was  alive. 

Dr.  Macklin  of  Nanking  told  us  story  after  story 
of  the  way  in  which  the  Chinese  would  leave  people 
in  a  dying  condition  on  the  road.  A  little  time  ago 
he  had  ridden  into  an  old  temple,  and  there  he  saw 
a  man  apparently  asleep,  but  on  looking  at  him  more 
closely,  he  saw  that  his  eyes  were  wide  open  and 
that  the  flies  were  walking  right  across  his  eyeballs, 
showing  that  he  was  quite  insensitive.  He  called 
to  one  or  two  men  and  asked  them  to  help  him  to 
carry  this  poor  sufferer  to  some  house  near,  but  they 
could  not  or  would  not  find  a  house  to  keep  him  in ; 
and  so  in  the  end  Dr.  Macklin  determined  to  take 
him  straight  back  to  Nanking,  which  he  did.  There 
he  administered  a  very  heavy  dose  of  quinine  hypo- 
dermically,  with  the  result  that  the  man  soon  showed 


68  CHANGING  CHINA 


signs  of  returning  consciousness.  It  was  a  case  of 
nialignant  malaria,  and  had  he  not  been  found  by 
Dr.  Mackhn,  the  man  must  have  been  eaten  by  wild 
dogs  or  have  died  from  the  disease  ;  as  it  was  he 
recovered,  and  proved  to  be  a  hard-working  young 
farmer  who  was  in  search  of  work,  as  his  home  had 
been  ruined  by  a  local  failure  of  crops.  He  had 
apparently  contracted  malaria,  and  owing  to  his 
poor  and  ill-nourished  condition  it  had  gone  hardly 
with  him. 

But  story  after  story  was  told  us  always  to 
the  same  effect — that  the  quality  of  mercy  is  not 
highly  esteemed  by  the  Chinese.  The  appeal  the 
beggar  makes  to  you  as  he  runs  after  you  is  the 
old  Buddhist  appeal,  which  after  all  is  essentially 
selfish,  as  he  beseeches  you  "  to  acquire  merit "  by 
helping  him ;  we  must  remember  that  even  this 
reason  for  mercy  is  despised  by  the  gentry  and 
literati  of  China  as  essentially  belonging  to  Buddhism. 
Perhaps  the  most  lurid  stories  that  we  heard  were 
up  river.  One  came  from  the  country  of  the  Lolos. 
The  Chinese  were  going  out  to  fight  the  Lolos,  and 
the  missionary  saw  them  carrying  a  handsome  young 
man  bound  on  a  plank  so  that  he  could  not  move — 
so  bound  that  his  head  was  thrown  back.  After 
certain  ceremonies  they  cut  the  man's  throat,  and 
scattered  the  blood  on  the  flags;  it  was  a  sort  of 
human  sacrifice.  Another  story  we  heard  from  some 
devoted  Franciscan  Sisters  up  at  Ichang.  They 
assured  us  that  if  a  mother  found  her  children 


CHINESE  CIVILISATIOX 


ITS  GOOD  SIDE  —  A  GARDEN 


CHINESE  CIVILISATION  69 

weakly,  and  she  lost  one  or  two,  she  would  make 
up  her  mind  that  the  reason  they  were  ill  was 
because  an  evil  spirit  had  a  grudge  against  her. 
She  would  then  take  one  of  her  remaining  children, 
and,  in  the  hope  of  propitiating  the  evil  spirit,  she 
would  burn  that  child  alive.  We  could  not  believe 
this  story  was  true ;  but  that  evening  we  saw 
some  hard-working  Presbyterian  ladies,  common- sense 
efficient  Scotchwomen,  and  they  assured  us  that  it 
was  quite  true. 


CHAPTER  VI 


CHINESE  CIVILISATION— ITS  GOOD  SIDE 

It  would  give  a  very  false  idea  of  the  Chinese  if  great 
stress  were  not  laid  on  the  good  side  of  their  civilisa- 
tion. They  have  many  fine  qualities,  and  in  more 
than  one  point  they  are  superior  to  the  nominal 
Christianity  of  some  Western  countries.  The  first 
thing  perhaps  that  strikes  a  foreigner  when  he  is 
brought  into  contact  with  the  Chinese  is  their  great 
courtesy ;  their  literati  are  such  gentlefolk.  Even  the 
less  cultured  people  have  most  refined  manners ;  no 
one  is  ever  rude ;  and  one  of  the  things  they  cannot 
understand  is  how  we  can  esteem  a  rough,  frank,  honest 
man.  There  is  a  case  when  they  would  not  appoint 
a  certain  Englishman  to  a  commercial  post,  preferring 
a  man  of  far  less  attainments  and  of  much  shorter 
service,  because  the  former  was  rude.  That  was 
enough.  It  was  no  use  telling  them  that  his  honesty 
was  above  suspicion,  that  he  was  a  reliable  business 
man,  that  he  was  very  hard  working,  that  he  had 
many  years  of  hard  service  behind  him ;  they  allowed 
all  this  freely,  but  they  shrugged  their  shoulders  and 
said,  The  truth  is,  he  is  such  a  rude  fellow,  and  he 
will  give  such  very  great  offence  by  his  bad  manners," 

so  they  would  not  have  him. 

70 


CHINESE  CIVILISATION  71 

When  a  visitor  enters  a  Yamen,  he  realises  that  his 
manners  must  be  those  of  a  most  polished  diplomat. 
Before  him  walks  a  servant,  holding  aloft  his  visiting 
card.  One  really  ought  to  have  special  Chinese  cards 
printed  on  beautiful  sheets  of  red  paper  with  queer- 
looking  characters  on  them  setting  forth  one's  rank 
and  name.  However,  in  these  days  of  admiration  of 
the  West,  our  poor  little  white  cards  are  considered 
adequate.  The  Viceroy  or  official  meets  the  visitor, 
enthusiastically  shaking  his  own  hands — the  Chinese 
salutation — and  bowing  low;  the  particular  door  at 
which  he  meets  his  guest  marks  the  amount  of  respect 
he  wishes  to  pay  him,  and  is  therefore  of  some  import- 
ance. In  my  case,  when  my  host  was  favourable  to 
higher  education,  I  was  received  in  the  outer  court. 
At  every  door  there  was  a  polite  contest  as  to  who 
should  go  through  it  first,  and  at  last  we  found  our- 
selves in  a  room  where  tea,  dessert,  champagne,  and 
cigarettes  were  offered,  although  of  the  two  latter 
I  was  unworthy.  Then  began  the  conversation.  I 
found  less  stiffness  once  I  had  explained  that  I  came 
to  gather  opinions  about  a  scheme  for  education. 
After  the  stately  interview  was  over  there  was  an 
equally  ceremonious  leave-taking. 

Though  the  methods  of  the  Chinese  in  doing  busi- 
ness may  be  exasperating  to  a  Western  whose  time  is 
money  and  who  wants  them  to  come  to  some  imme- 
diate decision,  they  are  invariably  delightful  and 
courteous  in  all  their  negotiations.  This  courtesy  is 
all  the  direct  result  of  Confucian  teaching.    Stress  is 


72  CHANGING  CHINA 

laid  there  on  courteous  behaviour,  perhaps  even  to 
a  degree  which  may  strike  the  Western  traveller  as 
absurd.  This  courtesy,  I  understand,  extends  even 
to  those  of  lower  degree.  Your  servant  in  speaking 
to  another  calls  him  brother,  and  nothing  makes 
the  servant  despise  his  master  so  much  as  seeing 
him  lose  his  temper :  it  is  to  his  mind  a  mark  of  our 
savagery. 

The  Chinese  have  higher  virtues  than  courtesy. 
They  are  essentially  industrious.  You  have  only  to 
look  at  a  Chinaman's  garden  to  realise  the  extent  to 
which  he  possesses  this  quality.  I  am  certain  that 
those  people  who  are  proud  of  the  culture  of  their 
kitchen  gardens  would  be  surprised  and  ashamed  if 
they  could  compare  them  with  those  of  a  China- 
man. One  passes  garden  after  garden  with  rows  of 
plants  placed  at  even  distances  and  every  plant 
exactly  the  right  distance  in  those  rows,  with  never 
a  weed  to  be  seen  all  over  the  whole  plot.  Again 
in  handicraft  there  is  the  same  industry;  you  buy 
Chinese  embroidery  for  a  song  in  such  a  place  as 
Changsha.  No  one  will  tell  you  that  Chinamen  ever 
object  to  length  of  hours  ;  they  are  ideal  men  for  work 
that  needs  care  and  accuracy. 

Again  they  are  very  patient.  A  monotonous  task 
is  not  at  all  unpleasing  to  them.  An  acute  French 
observer  used  the  word  routiniere  in  describing  this 
characteristic.  Even  in  intellectual  work  this  liking 
for  monotonous  repetition  will  show  itself  One  of 
the  doctors  told  us  that  he  had  the  very  greatest 


CHINESE  CIVILISATION  73 


difficulty  in  inducing  his  pupils  not  to  perpetuate  his 
most  casual  gestures  when  he  was  demonstrating. 
For  instance,  when  teaching  bacteriology,  quite  un- 
consciously he  might  from  time  to  time  put  an  instru- 
ment down  on  the  table,  and  just  touch  it  again. 
Months  after  he  would  find  one  of  his  pupils  when 
doing  the  same  experiment  repeating  every  gesture 
he  had  accidentally  made  with  careful  imitation.  It 
was  clear  that  the  student  had  monotonously  con- 
tinued to  practice  these  gestures  for  no  other  reason 
but  that  he  had  seen  his  master  make  them.  All 
those  words  which  our  writers  on  social  subjects  are 
so  fond  of  inditing  against  the  modern  factory  system 
have  no  meaning  to  the  Chinaman.  Those  complaints 
about  long  hours  at  mechanical  work  rendering  the 
worker  little  better  than  a  machine  are  doubtless  true 
of  the  white  race,  but  are  quite  beside  the  point  as 
applied  to  the  Chinese.  If  the  Chinaman  is  well  paid 
in  the  factory  he  will  prefer  rather  than  otherwise 
that  the  work  should  be  mechanical ;  he  will  not  mind 
if  the  hours  are  long. 

Again,  he  is  cheerful  and  contented  under  very 
adverse  circumstances.  When  we  were  being  rowed 
in  a  native  boat  up  the  Yangtsze,  and  the  men  were 
straining  every  nerve  against  the  current,  while  they 
were  chilled  by  a  drizzling  rain,  there  was  never  a 
word  of  discontent ;  they  were  always  cheerful  and 
bright,  good-tempered  and  merry. 

Their  highest  quality  is  obedience,  which  is  the 
result  of  their  Confucian  culture.    The  central  virtue 


74  CHANGING  CHINA 

of  that  teaching  is  obedience  to  parents,  and  they 
hold  that  doctrine  to  a  degree  which  to  the  Western 
mind  seems  exaggerated.  One  of  the  grown-up  sons 
of  a  Chinese  clergyman  did  something  which  he  con- 
sidered unbecoming  in  a  Christian ;  to  the  surprise  of 
the  missionary,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  administer  a 
sound  thrashing  to  his  son,  which  the  young  man 
took  without  the  slightest  resistance,  and  in  this 
action  the  clergyman  was  supported  by  the  public 
opinion  of  the  congregation.  This  quality  gives  to 
China  its  great  power,  and  it  is  one  of  the  points  in 
which  there  is  the  greatest  divergence  between  the 
teaching  of  the  West  and  of  the  East.  Every  China- 
man points  out  to  you  how  little  Westerns  care  for 
their  parents.  I  remember  a  Chinese  gentleman 
explaining  in  a  patronising  way  to  the  other  Chinese 
that,  strange  though  it  seemed,  he  knew  it  as  a 
fact  that  one  of  the  commandments  of  our  religion 
really  was  that  we  should  honour  our  parents. 

Were  it  not  for  this  principle  of  obedience  which 
is  implanted  in  the  mind  of  every  Chinaman,  the 
government  of  China  would  scarcely  endure  for  a 
day ;  but  he  is  taught  from  his  earliest  youth  to 
obey  his  father,  not  as  we  teach  in  the  West  be- 
cause the  child  is  unable  to  think  and  understand, 
so  that  obedience  to  parents  is  a  virtue  which  must 
fall  into  disuse  as  knowledge  increases,  but  as  an 
absolute  duty,  a  duty  equally  incumbent  on  a  man 
of  forty  as  on  a  child  of  four.  This  principle  is 
extended  to  that  of  civil  government ;   the  local 


CHINESE  CIVILISATION  75 

official  is  in  their  quaint  phrase  "the  father  and 
mother  of  his  people,"  and  the  obedience  to  parents 
taught  in  childhood  is  therefore  extended  to  those 
who  govern.  No  Chinaman  has  any  doubt  but  that 
the  first  duty  of  man  is  obedience  to  authority.  Let 
us  hope  these  qualities  will  ever  endure. 

What  may  happen,  and,  alas,  I  am  afraid,  is  at  the 
present  moment  happening,  is  that  the  two  civilisa- 
tions may  be  so  blended  together  that  the  qualities 
of  each  may  be  lost  and  its  peculiar  virtues  destroyed 
while  its  characteristic  vices  are  preserved.  The 
great  qualities  of  obedience  to  parents,  of  courtesy  to 
strangers,  are  being  forgotten.  The  Chinaman  edu- 
cated in  the  States  is  rude  and  abrupt ;  he  fancies  that 
it  is  Western  and  business-like.  Every  Chinese  gentle- 
man to  whom  I  talked,  allowed  that  one  of  the  worst  re- 
sults of  Western  teaching  had  been  that  a  Westernised 
Chinaman  was  less  obedient  and  respectful  to  his 
parents.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Westernised  China- 
man does  not  acquire  the  pecuhar  virtues  of  the 
Englishman. 

The  superficial  Chinese  thinker  wants  China  to 
learn  only  the  material  side  of  our  civilisation,  to 
profit  by  our  mechanical  excellence  without  learning 
anything  of  our  ethics.  His  view  is  that  the  West  is 
immoral  but  wealthy ;  he  regards  Europe  as  the  place 
where  there  is  no  principle  excepting  money-worship, 
and  therefore  he  argues  that  if  you  would  Westernise 
China  you  must  despise  morality  and  seek  for  money. 
Chang-Chih-Tung  voiced  this  thought  when  he  said, 


76  CHANGING  CHINA 

"  Western  education  is  practical,  Chinese  education  is 
moral."  If  you  try  to  argue  with  a  thoughtless 
Chinaman  who  has  perhaps  never  left  China,  and 
whose  only  experience  of  Western  life  is  what  he  has 
seen  in  a  treaty  port,  you  will  find  that  it  is  hard  to 
convince  him  that  Western  education  produces  a  high 
moral  tone.  After  all  we  may,  to  a  certain  extent, 
be  to  blame  for  their  want  of  appreciation  of  the 
morality  of  the  West,  for  too  often  we  show  to  the 
Chinese  a  very  degraded  side  of  our  civilisation ;  and 
though  I  do  not  think  that  Shanghai  at  the  present 
merits  the  term  that  was  applied  to  it  fifty  years 
ago  of  being  a  moral  sink,"  yet  undoubtedly  the 
treaty  ports,  both  by  their  constitution  and  by  their 
geographical  position,  collect  very  unpleasant  speci- 
mens of  white  civilisation.  There  are  a  certain 
number  of  men  who  spend  a  great  part  of  their 
existence  being  deported  from  Shanghai  to  Hong- 
Kong,  and  from  Hong-Kong  to  Shanghai. 

One  of  the  comedies  in  the  tragedy  of  the  ex- 
tinction of  the  independence  of  Korea  is  illustrative 
of  this  point.  The  Emperor  of  Korea  heard  that  the 
Western  races  were  far  more  trustworthy  than  those 
of  the  East,  and  so  fearing  assassination  after  the 
murder  of  the  Queen,  he  determined  to  enrol  a  corps 
of  Europeans  as  a  body-guard  ;  he  sent  over  officers  to 
Shanghai  with  orders  to  enlist  Europeans.  Unfortu- 
nately for  himself  he  did  not  take  the  precaution  of 
sending  with  them  any  Western  to  help  in  the 
selection  of  the  men.    To  Korean  eyes  all  Westerns 


CHINESE  CIVILISATION  77 

look  alike,  and  as  they  were  offering  good  pay,  they 
soon  had  their  corps  complete ;  they  returned  to  Seoul, 
and  the  corps  was  installed  with  suitable  uniforms, 
and,  alas,  rifles  and  ammunition.  The  moment  the 
corps  was  paid,  the  greater  bulk  of  them  got  drunk, 
and  for  the  next  few  hours  Seoul  was  distinctly  an 
undesirable  place  of  residence,  filled  with  drunken 
men  of  all  nationalities  shouting  and  shrieking  and 
firing  loaded  rifles  recklessly  in  every  direction.  The 
poor  Emperor  trembled  as  he  looked  from  his  palace 
windows  at  his  body-guard  out  on  the  drink,  and  he 
made  up  his  mind  that  it  would  be  better  to  take 
a  reasonable  chance  of  assassination  by  the  Japanese 
than  to  risk  the  danger  of  being  guarded  by  this 
inebriate  troop  of  Westerns.  With  the  help  of  the 
Consul  the  body-guard  when  sober  were  returned  to 
Shanghai,  and  let  us  trust  the  Chinese  heard  the 
story  and  were  convinced  that  in  accepting  Western 
civilisation  they  must  be  careful  to  avoid  accepting 
the  vices  of  the  West. 

At  Changsha  I  heard  a  similar  story,  but  with  a 
tragic  side,  which  one  ^t  exonerated  the  Chinese  for 
being  rather  incredulous  as  to  the  morality  of  our 
civilisation.  Changsha,  I  should  explain,  is  reputed 
one  of  the  most  bigoted  cities  in  China ;  even  at  the 
present  moment  white  women  are  advised  not  to  walk 
through  the  streets.  The  Hunanese  have  a  bold 
independent  character,  which  makes  them  rather 
hostile  to  any  foreigner  or  to  foreign  ways,  and  I  am 
afraid  that  the  story  I  am  going  to  repeat  will  have 


78  CHANGING  CHINA 

confirmed  them  in  their  conviction  that  foreigners  are 
undesirable.  Two  white  men  belonging  to  one  of  the 
South  European  races — Greeks,  I  think — settled  them- 
selves down  in  defiance  of  treaty  rights  in  Changsha, 
and  at  once  opened  a  gambling  hell.  Very  soon  they 
taught  the  Chinese,  who  are  as  a  race  very  addicted 
to  gambling,  new  and  most  pernicious  forms  of  that 
hateful  vice.  The  Governor  complained  to  the  Consul ; 
the  Consul  sent  his  officer  down,  accompanied  by  the 
police,  to  arrest  the  Greeks  ;  the  Private  Secretary  to 
the  Governor  informed  the  Consul  of  the  tragedy  that 
followed.  The  Consular  officer  warned  the  Greeks  that 
they  must  give  up  their  gambling  establishment  and 
go  back  to  Hankow.  They  said  they  would  not.  He 
told  them  that  if  they  refused  he  would  arrest  them, 
take  them  to  the  boat,  and  send  them  down  by  force 
to  Hankow.  They  still  refused,  and  he  advanced,  upon 
which  one  of  the  Greeks  shot  the  officer  dead.  The 
Chinese  police  after  their  manner  vanished,  while  the 
Governor's  Private  Secretary,  according  to  his  own 
account,  spent  most  of  the  time  of  the  interview  under 
the  table.  The  Greeks,  seeing  the  coast  clear,  and 
realising  that  vengeance  must  come,  took  to  the  open 
country.  The  Chinese  were  told  to  arrest  them 
if  they  could.  Of  course  they  had  no  difficulty  in 
finding  them,  but  to  arrest  them  was  a  difierent 
matter.  They  mobilised  two  or  three  regiments,  and 
surrounding  the  house  in  which  the  Greeks  had  taken 
refuge,  they  kept  on  firing  at  long  range  till  they 
judged,  from  there  being  no  signs  of  life,  that  they 


CHINESE  CIVILISATION  79 

must  have  killed  them.  They  then  carried  off  the 
bodies,  but  thought  it  better  to  describe  the  incident 
in  an  official  document  as  a  case  of  suicide  from  fear 
of  arrest,  lest  they  should  be  held  responsible  for 
the  death  of  these  murderers.  The  next  Greeks  that 
came  up  the  river  were  sent  down  with  a  guard  of 
forty  men,  and  so  terrified  were  the  Chinese  that  they 
had  to  put  them  first-class,  as  no  Chinese  would  have 
dared  to  have  travelled  with  them. 

There  were  several  other  stories  told  at  Changsha 
to  the  same  effect.  The  European  that  the  Chinaman 
sees  in  that  sort  of  place  is  too  often  one  of  those 
worthless  men  who  has  found  his  own  country  im- 
possible to  live  in,  and  who  hopes  that  his  vices  and 
crimes  may  escape  unnoticed  in  distant  China.  Can 
one  wonder  that  the  Chinese  are  liable  to  misunder- 
stand the  West,  and  were  it  not  for  the  saintly  life  of 
many  missionaries,  the  high  character  and  strict  justice 
of  our  Consuls — yes,  and  the  admirable  discipline  and 
management  of  such  great  undertakings  as  that  of 
Butterfield  and  Swire — the  evil  would  be  incurable ; 
but  though  there  are  many  specimens  of  the  bad, 
there  are  also  not  a  few  men  who  by  their  lives  have 
testified  before  the  Chinese  to  the  greatness  of  our 
social  and  moral  traditions  and  to  the  religion  by 
which  they  are  inspired. 


CHAPTER  VII 


RAILWAYS  AND  RIVERS 

The  rivers  and  railways  of  China  form  a  very  marked 
contrast.  The  rivers  represent  the  old  means  of 
communication,  the  railways  the  new,  and  the  com- 
parison between  the  river  and  the  railway  enables 
the  traveller  to  compare  new  with  old  China  and  to 
realise  the  great  changes  that  are  taking  place  there 
and  the  transitional  character  of  the  phase  through 
which  the  country  is  now  passing. 

Ancient  China,  as  compared  to  ancient  Europe, 
was  a  most  progressive  country,  a  very  essential  point 
to  remember  when  we  have  to  consider  what  will  be 
the  attitude  of  the  Chinese  with  regard  to  modern 
progress.  Theoretically  they  have  always  been  pro- 
gressive ;  practically  they  have  passed  through  an  age 
of  progress  and  reached  the  other  side.  That  age  of 
progress  improved  very  much  their  means  of  com- 
munication. China  is  naturally  well  endowed  with 
rivers,  and  those  rivers  were  infinitely  extended  by  a 
system  of  canals.  Of  these  the  Grand  Canal  is  the 
most  perfect  example.  The  traveller  cannot  sail 
along  the  Grand  Canal  and  look  at  the  masonry 
walls  of  that  great  work,  or  the  high  bridges  that 
span  it,  without  realising  that  in  its  time  it  was  one 


RAILWAYS  AND  RIVERS  8i 


of  the  greatest  works  the  world  had  ever  seen.  That 
canal,  typical  of  modern  China,  is  now  in  disrepair, 
but  the  spirit  of  the  men  who  built  it  is  not  gone  ; 
it  is  the  same  spirit  that  now  welcomes  railways  all 
over  China. 

The  greatest  of  China's  natural  waterways  is  the 
Yangtsze-Kiang ;  it  cuts  right  through  the  centre  of 
China  from  the  sea  to  Chungking  and  further  ;  it 
has  many  important  tributaries,  which  lead  through 
great  lakes  and  afford  a  very  useful  means  of  com- 
munication to  vast  districts  in  Central  China. 

Along  that  great  river  for  six  hundred  miles,  ships 
of  the  largest  size  can  sail  in  the  summer  ;  battleships, 
though  not  of  the  largest  class,  can  ascend  to  Hankow. 
Beyond  Hankow  the  river  is  much  shallower,  and 
communication  with  Ichang  is  often  interrupted  in 
the  winter  by  want  of  water.  A  thousand  miles 
from  the  sea  begin  those  wonderful  gorges  of  the 
Yangtsze  which  are  among  the  greatest  wonders  of 
the  world. 

Up  to  Ichang,  the  Yangtsze  is  still  a  big,  rather 
dull  yellow  river,  a  vastly  overgrown  Thames,  a  mass 
of  sandbanks,  running  through  almost  consistently 
uninteresting  country  ;  but  after  that  thousand  miles, 
it  develops  into  a  sort  of  huge  Rhine.  The  river 
is  still  yellow,  but  it  runs  through  green  mountains 
and  grey  rocks.  At  times  it  swirls  along  with  an 
oily  surface  dented  here  and  there  by  whirlpools 
which  tell  of  some  sunken  rock  ;  at  other  times  the 
grey   rocks  creep   closer  together  and  the  yellow 


82  CHANGING  CHINA 


Yangtsze  foams  itself  white  in  its  eflfort  to  squeeze 
through  the  narrow  opening  left.  In  quieter  reaches 
of  the  river  a  house-boat  or  luban  can  be  rowed  or 
sailed.  The  rowing  is  rather  jerky,  the  sailing  de- 
lio'htful,  and  so  the  advance  of  the  traveller  is 
pleasant  and  uneventful ;  but  when  the  boat  reaches 
the  rapids,  the  only  way  to  get  her  through  is  by 
towing. 

There  is  a  temptation  always  to  delay  putting 
men  ashore  to  tow — a  temptation  which  ended  in 
our  house-boat  being  bumped  upon  a  rock. 

Our  captain  (we  call  him  "  lowdah "  in  China) 
had  cleverly  devised,  by  creeping  along  the  side  of 
the  river  under  shelter  of  projecting  rocks  and  then 
by  dodging  round  the  points,  everybody  shrieking 
and  yelling  as  they  strained  at  the  oar,  to  avoid 
the  necessity  of  towing ;  but  a  more  malign  whirl- 
pool  than  the  rest  twisted  us  round  till  the  oars  on 
one  side  of  the  boat  could  not  row  because  they 
were  fouled  on  the  rocks,  and  then  another  twisted 
us  sideways  on  to  a  submerged  rock,  and  there  the 
current  held  us  till  the  police-boat  the  Chinese 
Government  supplies  to  foreign  travellers  kindly 
took  our  rope  ashore  and  we  were  hauled  off  without 
apparently  having  suffered  any  damage. 

These  police-boats,  or  "  red  boats,"  are  a  great 
feature  in  travelling  on  the  Yangtsze.  They  add 
enormously,  to  begin  with,  to  the  artistic  effect,  as 
they  are  furnished  with  an  art-blue  sail,  which  would 
rejoice  the  heart  of  an  artist,  but  the  nervous  traveller 


RAILWAYS  AND  RIVERS  83 

regards  them  with  feelings  of  a  warmer  nature  than 
those  their  aesthetic  effect  would  arouse.  They 
guarantee,  if  not  the  safety  of  boats  and  goods,  at 
least  the  safety  of  his  person  amidst  the  terrible 
rapids  of  the  river.  If  his  boat  should  be  wrecked 
and  his  goods  become  the  property  of  the  fishes,  he 
knows  that  the  "  red  boat "  will  dart  into  the  rapids, 
and  owing  to  its  peculiar  construction  and  the  skill  of 
the  boatmen,  will  be  able  to  rescue  and  return  him,  a 
washed  and  grateful  traveller,  to  Ichang. 

The  excitement  of  passing  the  rapids  is  intense. 
It  is  a  pleasurable  sensation  when  you  watch  from 
the  shore  some  one  else  passing  through  them ;  it  is 
more  exciting  but  less  pleasurable  to  be  on  the  boat 
itself  at  that  moment.  The  excitement  is  largely 
a  question  of  the  size  of  the  boat,  whence  the  wisdom 
of  taking  a  small  boat  even  if  it  is  less  comfortable. 
To  watch  an  eighty-ton  junk  being  hauled  through  a 
narrow  passage  of  foaming  water  is  intensely  thrilling. 
It  is  a  matter  of  great  diflficulty  owing  to  the  rocky 
nature  both  of  the  channel  and  the  shore. 

The  Yangtsze  rises  and  falls  some  hundreds  of 
feet  in  the  year,  and  at  low  water  the  banks  are  a 
mass  of  rough  rocks  which  remind  one  more  of  the 
sea  than  of  a  river.  The  men  who  tow  are  called 
trackers,  and  they  have  to  climb  over  these  rocks 
tugging  and  straining  at  the  rope  while  a  certain 
number  of  them,  stripped  to  nudity,  try  to  keep  the 
rope  clear  of  the  rocks  which  constantly  entangle  it 
both  on  shore  and  in  the  water.    It  is  splendid  to 


84  CHANGING  CHINA 

watch  these  men  as  they  bound  from  rock  to  rock 
to  disengage  the  rope  from  some  projecting  point,  or 
as,  leaping  into  the  stream,  they  swim  across  to 
isolated  rocks  and  extricate  it  from  all  sorts  of  im- 
possible situations.  Meanwhile  the  junk  creeps  up 
inch  by  inch,  at  times  standing  almost  still  while  the 
water  surges  past  her  and  makes  a  wave  at  her  bow 
which  would  not  misbecome  a  torpedo-destroyer  in 
full  steam.  Woe  betide  the  junk  if  the  rope  should 
foul  and  break  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  these  men,  for 
then  she  would  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  current,  and 
if  it  should  so  happen  that  there  was  no  wind,  the 
mariners  on  board  have  no  command  over  her,  and 
she  must  drift  as  chance  will  guide  her  till  quieter 
water  is  reached.  Of  course  if  there  is  a  wind  they 
can  haul  up  their  sail,  and  then,  though  they  will 
descend  backwards  down  the  stream,  they  will  do 
it  with  dignity  and  safety.  We  passed  a  junk  doing 
this.  Her  rope  had  apparently  broken,  her  huge  sails 
were  set  to  a  stiff  breeze  ;  as  you  watched  her  by 
the  water  she  seemed  to  be  sailing  at  a  good  rate 
forwards  ;  as  you  watched  her  by  the  land  she  was 
travelling  a  good  steady  pace  down  stream.  If  she 
cannot  hoist  her  sail  because  the  wind  is  unfavourable, 
then  she  will  rush  back,  inadequately  guided  by  three 
huge  strange-looking  oars.  The  one  at  the  bow,  worked 
by  six  men,  can  twist  her  round  like  a  teetotum,  so 
that  as  she  dashes  down  stream,  the  captain  can 
select  which  part  of  her  shall  bump  against  the 
submerged   rocks,  which   after  all   is   but  a  poor 


GORGES  OF  THE  YANGTSZE 


JUNK  NEGOTIATING  EAPIDS 
(Notice  coils  of  bamboo  rope) 


RAILWAYS  AND  RIVERS  85 

privilege,  when  you  remember  that  eighty  tons  of 
woodwork  banged  against  massive  granite  rock  must 
be  resolved  into  its  constituent  boards,  whatever  part 
of  it  strikes  the  rock  first.  The  two  other  oars  are 
even  less  helpful.  With  eight  men  at  each,  they  can 
propel  the  boat  at  the  rate  of  about  three  miles  an 
hour  ;  but  what  use  is  that  when  the  stream  is  bearing 
the  junk  to  destruction  at  twenty  miles  an  hour.  If 
the  rope  breaks,  it  is  rather  a  question  of  good  luck 
than  good  guidance.  If  there  is  no  rock  in  the  way, 
the  junk  happily  sails  down  and  is  brought  up  in 
the  quieter  waters  below  the  rapids.  If  there  is  a 
rock  in  the  way,  the  junk  arrives  at  the  end  of  the 
rapid  in  a  condition  which  would  please  firewood 
collectors  but  no  one  else.  Those  of  the  crew  who 
can  swim  get  ashore,  and  those  who  cannot  are 
either  picked  up  by  the  red  boat,"  or  if  there  is 
not  one  there,  they  disappear  ;  their  bodies  are  re- 
covered several  days  later  lower  down  the  river. 
From  a  Chinese  point  of  view  this  is  all  a  small 
matter ;  what  is  important  is  that  a  junk  con- 
taining a  valuable  cargo  has  been  lost.  So  fre- 
quent have  been  these  losses  that  five  per  cent, 
insurance  is  demanded  for  cargoes  going  above 
Ichang. 

Perhaps  I  ought  to  say  one  word  about  the  rope 
on  which  the  safety  of  the  junk  depends.  It  is 
made  of  plaited  bamboo,  which  is  extraordinarily 
light,  and  does  not  fray,  though  it  is  so  stifP  that 
it  behaves  like  a  wire  rope.    Its  great  lightness 


86 


CHANGING  CHINA 


allows  of  the  use  of  ropes  of  enormous  length.  I 
do  not  think  it  is  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  some 
of  them  are  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long.  They  are  very 
strong,  and  therefore  can  be  of  wonderfully  narrow 
diameter,  but  apparently  they  last  but  a  short  time, 
and  every  boat  is  furnished  with  coil  after  coil  of 
bamboo  rope  ready  for  all  emergencies.  A  horrible 
accident  happens  when  owing  to  bad  steering  the 
trackers  are  pulled  back  off  the  narrow  ledges  cut  into 
the  face  of  the  precipices,  which  at  times  border  the 
river,  so  that  they  fall  into  the  rapid. 

They  are  an  attractive  body  of  men,  these  trackers. 
They  leap  over  the  most  incredible  chasms  in  the 
rocks,  they  climb  like  cats  up  the  precipices,  they 
pull  like  devils,  while  one  master  encourages  them 
by  beating  a  drum  on  board  the  junk,  and  another 
belabours  them  on  shore  with  a  bit  of  bamboo  rope, 
which  makes  an  excellent  substitute  for  a  birch  rod, 
and  yet  w^ithal  they  are  cheerful.  When  it  rains 
or  snows  they  are  wet  through  ;  when  the  sun  is  hot 
— and  remember  the  Yangtsze  is  in  the  same  lati- 
tude as  North  Africa — they  expose  their  bent  backs 
to  the  scorching  sun  ;  yet  apparently  they  never 
grumble,  but  they  wile  away  the  hours  of  their  labour 
Avith  cheerful  song.  When  they  row  or  pull  easily, 
the  song  is  a  weird  antiphonal  chant — it  seems  to  be 
sometimes  a  solo  and  a  chorus,  sometimes  two  equally 
balanced  choruses ;  but  when  the  work  becomes  hard, 
the  song  changes  into  a  wild  snarl  and  they  laugh 
a  savage  laugh  as  they  strain  and  sweat  to  the  utter- 


RAILWAYS  AND  HIVERS  87 

most.  I  will  complete  their  description  by  saying 
that  their  views  of  decency  are  those  of  Adam  before 
the  Fall,  and  that  they  preserve  their  strength  by  a 
diet  of  rice  and  beans  with  a  handful  of  cabbages  as  a 
relish.  At  night  they  sleep  on  the  deck  of  the  junk 
on  their  rough  Chinese  bedding  with  only  a  mat 
roofing  to  keep  the  rain  off  them.  And  as  I  watched 
their  cheerful  demeanour,  I  felt  more  convinced  than 
ever  that  the  natural  virtues  of  the  Chinese  are  of  the 
very  highest  order. 

Perhaps  I  ought  to  say  one  word  about  the  beauty 
of  the  gorges.  I  think  in  two  points  they  excel.  First, 
in  the  height  of  the  massive  cliffs,  through  which  the 
Yangtsze  has  cut  its  way  like  a  knife ;  the  size  of  the 
river  and  the  size  of  the  cliffs  are  so  much  in  propor- 
tion that  the  eagle  circling  above  the  gorge  looks  like 
a  swallow,  and  the  crowd  of  trackers  appears  as  a 
disturbed  ant  colony.  The  other  way  in  which  the 
gorges  excel  in  beauty  is  in  colouring ;  at  one  point 
especially  it  was  most  remarkable — the  rocks  were  red, 
the  mountains  when  we  saw  them  were  purple,  and 
the  purple  and  red  harmonising  with  the  fresh  green 
foliage  of  early  summer  and  the  deep  yellow  of  the 
river,  made  a  rich  combination  of  tints  in  the  land- 
scape which  could  hardly  be  surpassed.  It  is  typical 
of  the  state  in  which  China  is  at  the  present  day  that 
a  scheme  should  be  on  foot  for  building  a  railway 
which  no  doubt  will  render  the  gorges  of  the  Yangtsze  a 
silent  highway,  and,  instead  of  hearing  the  wild  song 
of  the  tracker  or  the  savage  beating  of  the  tom-tom, 


88  CHANGING  CHINA 


the  lonely  eagle  will  circle  above  a  silent  river  on 
which  the  fisherman's  bark  alone  will  sail  in  the 
future. 

For  all  schemes  to  tame  the  wild  and  fierce 
Yangtsze  are  clearly  impossible.  The  river  rises  and 
falls  more  than  a  hundred  feet  with  great  rapidity, 
and  no  human  hand  could  ever  throw  a  dam"  across 
this  mass  of  surging  water.  Possibly  it  might  be 
used  as  a  source  of  power  for  electrical  work,  but  it  is 
far  more  probable  that  the  smaller  rivers  which  fall 
into  the  Yangtsze  will  be  chosen  for  that  purpose. 
This  district  may  be  a  tourist  resort,  and  dwellers  in 
the  plains  of  China  may  seek  coolness  and  beauty  on 
one  of  the  crags  that  overhang  the  river  ;  the  modern 
hotel  may  perch  itself  beside  the  ancient  Buddhist 
temple ;  but  the  days  of  the  river  as  a  great  com- 
mercial route  of  China  are  numbered  as  soon  as  the 
railway  linking  far-western  Szechuan  to  the  rest  of 
China  is  completed.  One  wild  scheme  proposes  that 
the  railway  should  come  from  Russia  straight  down 
from  Szechuan,  in  which  case  more  than  probably 
Szechuan  will  fall  completely  under  the  influence  of 
the  Russian  Government. 

One  of  the  results  of  Westernising  China  must  be 
to  produce  an  industrial  revolution.  All  those  men, 
for  instance,  who  make  a  living  by  leaping  from  crag 
to  crag,  from  rock  to  rock,  and  swimming,  struggling, 
rowing  in  that  river  Yangtsze  will  find  their  living 
gone.  But  not  only  will  the  railway  make  many  poor 
who  had  a  competence,  but  it  must  make  many  rich 


RAILWAYS  AND  RIVERS  89 

who  before  were  poor.  In  this  case,  for  instance,  all 
those  commodities  which  are  now  extremely  dear  in 
Szechuan,  because  of  the  cost  of  transit,  will  fall  in 
price,  and  there  will  be  a  period  when  there  will  be 
a  wide  margin  of  profit  between  the  cost  of  importa- 
tion and  the  conventional  price  the  people  are  used 
to  pay,  and  those  who  live  by  trade  will  grow  rich. 

What  has  happened  in  the  West  must  also  happen 
in  the  East.  The  introduction  of  steam  did  not  make 
the  official  classes  or  even  the  working  classes 
immediately  rich.  The  people  who  immediately 
profited  by  improved  means  of  production  and  com- 
munication were  the  great  middle  class ;  afterwards 
as  the  working  class  realised  that  the  margin  of  profit 
would  allow  of  larger  wages,  they  compelled  the 
masters  to  share  these  advantages  with  them.  So  it 
will  probably  happen  in  China.  With  the  railway 
will  come  a  rich  middle  class  who  will  be  a  factor  of 
growing  importance  in  future  China. 

A  great  contrast  between  the  Yangtsze  and  its 
wild  gorges  is  the  great  trunk  line  from  Peking  to 
Canton  which  runs  at  right  angles  through  the 
Yangtsze  north  and  south,  and  must  make  Hankow, 
the  place  where  it  crosses  the  Yangtsze,  one  of  the 
greatest  cities  in  the  whole  world.  The  railway  is 
only  completed  as  far  as  Hankow.  It  runs  from 
Peking  right  across  the  plains  of  China,  which  are  so 
desolate  in  the  spring  and  so  fertile  in  the  summer, 
and  which  depend  for  their  fertility  on  the  July  rains. 
At  every  station  a  great  Chinese  inn  is  erected — that 


90  CHANGING  CHINA 

is  to  say,  a  big  courtyard  with  rooms  round.  At 
first,  of  course,  trade  was  small ;  the  Chinese  village 
community  has  but  little  that  it  wants  either  to  buy 
or  sell ;  each  community  is  to  a  great  extent  self- 
supporting.  A  farmer  reckoned,  I  was  told  by  a 
Chinese  official,  that  if  he  had  made  30s.  a  year, 
he  had  done  well.  That  does  not  mean  that  he  lived 
on  30s.  a  year,  though  in  a  country  where  men  are 
paid  threepence  a  day,  one  would  almost  have  been 
ready  to  believe  it ;  but  it  means  that  he  had  fifteen 
dollars  a  year  to  spend  on  things  outside  his  daily 
food.  His  farm  supplies  him  with  food  and  drink 
and  his  vicious  luxury,  opium  ;  his  women  make  his 
clothes  ;  it  only  remains  for  him  to  buy  material  for 
the  clothes  and  the  little  extras  that  they  cannot 
make,  besides  salt.  He  pays  for  the  few  things  that 
he  has  bought,  probably  with  the  opium  he  pro- 
duces, or  in  Manchuria  with  beans ;  but  the  trade  has 
been  of  microscopical  dimensions  owing  to  the  diffi- 
culties of  transit. 

When  the  railway  is  made  he  finds  at  the  railway 
inn  the  Chinese  merchant  ready  to  buy  and  sell 
anything  that  he  on  his  part  is  ready  to  trade.  At 
first,  such  things  as  sewing  cotton  and  cigarettes  are 
the  things  that  are  traded  against  silk  or  opium,  and 
then  comes  Chinese  medicine  and  mineral  oil,  and  so 
trade  begins,  and  soon  the  Chinese  inn  becomes  a 
market-place,  and  the  railways  begin  carrying  goods. 

Of  course  the  full  development  of  the  railway 
system  must  depend  on  the  feeding  lines  and  in  what 


RAILWAYS  AND  RIVERS  91 

we  had  in  Europe  before  the  railway  system,  and 
what  the  Chinese  have  not  got,  the  feeding  roads. 
In  Manchuria — for  China,  like  England,  is  more  go- 
ahead  in  the  north  than  in  the  south — they  are 
already  moving  in  this  direction.  The  Kussian  rail- 
ways, possessed  now  by  the  Japanese,  are  very  busy 
carrying  beans  to  Dalny,  and  soon  the  Japanese  lines 
from  Mukden  to  Antung  will  be  equally  busy,  and 
the  line  from  Mukden  to  Tientsin  also  will  carry  this 
crop.  What  they  are  now  considering  at  Mukden 
is  how  they  can  arrange  a  feeding  system  of  light 
railways,  by  which  a  bigger  area  of  ground  can  be 
brought  within  reach  of  the  railway  system.  To 
give  some  idea  of  the  energy  and  progressive  character 
of  the  officials  in  those  parts,  I  may  mention  that  they 
are  already  making  inquiries  as  to  the  mono-rail 
system  for  such  railways. 

The  Chinese  have  made  up  their  minds  to  welcome 
railways,  and  though  they  w^ould  far  prefer  railways 
to  be  built  with  Chinese  capital,  they  are  of  necessity 
compelled  to  accept  European  capital,  since  their 
fellow-countrymen  want  very  high  interest  for  their 
money.  The  Germans  have  taken  very  full  advan- 
tage of  the  Chinese  desire  for  railways,  and  have 
linked  Kiauchau  with  the  railway  system  of  China. 

The  effect  of  all  this  must  be  very  far  reaching. 
To  begin  with,  it  will  alter  the  influence  of  foreign 
powers.  As  the  railway  service  is  completed,  Kiauchau 
will  become  a  very  much  more  important  centre  than 
it  is  now.    If  a  railway  that  links  Peking  to  Nau- 


92  CHANGING  CHINA 

king,  or,  to  be  accurate,  to  a  town  on  the  Yangtsze 
opposite  to  Nanking,  is  cut  by  a  railway  from 
Kiauchau,  the  result  will  be  that  Kiauchau  will 
become  the  nearest  ice-free  port  for  an  enormous 
district  of  China.  This  cannot  fail  to  strengthen  the 
German  influence,  and  the  German  influence  is  con- 
nected, as  we  have  already  explained,  too  much  with 
that  political  side  of  missions  which  has  caused 
them  to  be  distrusted  by  peace-loving  Chinese.  The 
Chinese  will  ask  themselves,  will  there  not  soon  be 
a  missionary  incident  which  will  justify  a  further 
aggression  by  Germany  along  the  railway,  which  lies 
so  handy  for  a  military  advance,  and  they  will  be 
suspicious  of  any  German  missionary  effort  in  that 
quarter. 

But  the  effect  of  the  railways  is  much  more  far 
reaching  than  any  casual  advantage  that  it  may  give 
to  various  powers,  whether  it  be  to  Germany  in 
Shantung,  or  to  Bussia  or  Japan  in  Manchuria,  or 
to  France  in  Yunnan,  or  to  Russia  in  Szechuan.  It 
will  have  two  main  effects.  First  and  foremost  it 
must  place  the  whole  of  China  in  the  same  position 
that  Shanghai  and  Tientsin  occupy  at  the  present 
moment — that  is,  it  must  make  the  whole  of  China 
a  mixture  of  Eastern  and  Western  civilisation.  It 
may  be  urged  that  the  rivers  of  China  have  already 
been  the  means  of  bringing  East  and  West  into  close 
contact  with  one  another,  and  yet  that  China  remains 
still  a  separate  and  difierent  country  to  the  treaty 
ports. 


RAILWAYS  AND  RIVERS  93 

The  answer  is,  firstly,  that  it  is  comparatively 
only  a  short  time  since  the  river  has  been  opened  to 
foreign  trade,  and  that  a  great  advance  has  been  made 
in  the  treaty  ports,  so  much  so  that  a  man  in  the 
customs  service  living  by  the  gorges  of  the  Yangtsze 
described  the  difference  between  the  treaty  ports  and 
the  rest  of  China  by  saying,  "  A  man  who  has  only 
seen  Shanghai  and  Hankow  has  never  seen  China." 
Secondly,  a  railway  has  a  great  educational  effect. 
When  a  railway  is  first  opened  the  Chinese  crowd 
to  see  it ;  they  get  in  the  way  of  the  engine,  they 
are  run  over,  they  accuse  it  of  malign  powers,  and 
then  they  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  after 
all  only  a  machine,  and  they  take  readily  to  travelling 
by  rail. 

For  instance,  the  railway  from  Tientsin  up  to 
Manchuria  has  already  completely  altered  the  con- 
ditions of  culture  in  the  north.  It  has  enabled  a 
large  number  of  labourers  to  migrate  every  year  to 
cultivate  the  fertile  but  icy  districts  of  Manchuria, 
60  that  it  is  quite  a  sight  to  see  truck-load  after 
truck-load  of  farm  labourers  travelling  like  cattle, 
going  up  from  the  south  to  the  districts  of  the  north 
at  the  rate  of  three  dollars  for  a  twenty-two  hours' 
journey. 

Not  only  does  the  railway  carry  the  Tientsin 
labourer  in  a  truck  to  the  Manchurian  beanfield,  but 
it  also  carries  first-class  the  Chinese  merchant  who 
will  buy  the  crop  of  beans  to  the  advantage  of  the 
farmer  and  to  his  own  greater  advantage.  The 


94  CHANGING  CHINA 

Chinese  are  rich  in  traders,  and  such  an  opportunity 
would  never  be  allowed  to  pass.  Every  year  will 
produce  a  greater  number  of  wealthy  Chinese  mer- 
chants, many  of  them  very  ignorant  both  of  Western 
and  Eastern  knowledge,  but  probably  some  of  them 
owning  a  respect  for  that  knowledge  whose  lack  they 
have  felt  in  proportion  to  their  own  ignorance,  for 
there  is  no  man  more  inclined  as  a  class  to  endow 
educational  institutions  than  he  who  in  his  youth 
has  felt  the  need  of  them. 

China  now  needs  help  to  found  a  University  teach- 
ing Western  knowledge.  Once  it  is  formed,  there 
is  every  reason  to  believe  that  it  will  be  endowed  by 
the  same  class  that  has  endowed  similar  institutions 
in  our  own  country. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


THE   CITIES    OF  CHINA 

Nowhere  Is  the  transitional  period  through  which 
China  is  passing  more  obvious  than  in  the  cities  of 
China  ;  many  towns  are  still  completely  Chinese,  but 
as  you  approach  the  ports  you  find  more  and  more 
Western  development.  The  contrast  between  towns 
is  extremely  marked.  Shanghai  or  Tientsin  are 
Western  towns  and  centres  of  civilisation ;  the  dif- 
ference between  them  and  such  towns  as  Hangchow 
or  Ichang  is  very  great.  The  true  Chinese  city  is 
not  without  its  beauty — in  fact,  in  many  ways  it  is 
a  beautiful  and  wonderful  place.  But  to  appreciate 
it  eyes  only  are  wanted,  and  a  nose  is  a  misfortune. 
The  streets  are  extremely  narrow  passages,  which 
are  bordered  on  either  side  by  most  attractive  shops, 
particularly  in  the  main  street.  The  stranger  longs 
to  stop  and  buy  things  as  he  goes  along,  but  the 
difficulty  is  that  it  takes  so  much  time ;  he  must 
either  be  prepared  to  pay  twice  the  value  of  the 
things  he  wants,  or  to  spend  hours  in  negotiation. 
There  is  one  curious  exception  to  this  rule ;  the  silk 
guild  at  Shanghai  does  not  allow  its  members  to 
bargain,  and  therefore  in  the  silk  shop  the  real  price 
is  told  at  once. 


96  CHANGING  CHINA 

The  shopkeepers  are  charming,  and  there  are 
numbers  of  salesmen — salesmen  who  do  not  mind 
taking  any  amount  of  trouble  to  please.  It  is  de- 
lightful, if  insidious,  to  go  into  those  shops ;  and 
one  can  well  believe  that  if  a  Chinese  silk  shop 
were  opened  in  London,  and  silk  sold  at  Chinese 
prices,  the  shop  would  have  plenty  of  customers. 
The  quality  of  Chinese  silk  far  exceeds  that  of  the 
silks  of  the  West.  A  Chinese  gentleman  mentioned  as 
an  example  of  this  superiority  that  one  of  his  gowns 
was  made  of  French  silk,  and  that  it  was  torn  and 
spoilt  after  two  or  three  years ;  but  that  he  had  had 
gowns  of  Chinese  silk  for  twenty  years  or  more  which 
were  quite  as  good  as  on  the  day  he  bought  them, 
and  that  he  had  only  put  them  on  one  side  because 
the  fashions  in  men's  garments  change  in  China  as 
they  do  elsewhere  for  ladies.  The  same  gentleman 
related  many  interesting  things  about  the  silk  trade. 
The  quality  of  the  silk  is  determined  by  the  silk 
guild.  This  is  much  more  like  the  guilds  in  mediaeval 
Europe  than  anything  that  we  have  nowadays,  and 
that  is  why  China  is  not  exporting  more  silk  than 
she  is  at  present.  These  silk  guilds  to  a  certain 
extent  prevent  the  Chinese  catering  for  European 
customers,  as  they  will  not  allow  or  at  any  rate 
encourage  the  production  of  silks  that  would  take  on 
the  European  market.  The  West  has  many  faults 
as  well  as  many  virtues,  and  one  of  its  faults  is  that 
it  no  longer  cares  for  articles  of  sterling  value,  which 
last  long  and  for  which  a  high  price  must  be  paid, 


THE  CITIES  OF  CHINA  97 

but  it  delights  in  attractive  articles  of  poor  quality 
at  a  low  price.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  the  West 
may  spoil  some  of  China's  great  products  as  she  has 
spoilt  the  great  arts  and  productions  of  India. 

But  to  return  to  Chinese  streets.  Next  the  silk 
shop  will  be  the  silver  shop.  Here  again  the  work 
is  admirable.  At  such  a  place  as  Kiukiang  you  can 
spend  an  hour  or  more  bargaining,  and  watching  the 
wonderful  skill  of  the  silversmiths  as  they  turn  out 
beautiful  silver  ornaments.  It  is  pleasant  to  wander 
along  and  to  look  into  the  shops  and  see  the  strange 
things  that  are  for  sale — fish  of  many  kinds  in  one 
shop,  rice  and  grain  in  another,  strange  vegetables, 
little  bits  of  pork,  flattened  ducks ;  or  to  glance  at 
the  clothes  and  the  coats  hung  out,  many  of  them 
of  brilliant  colours.  The  signs  over  the  shops  and 
the  names  of  the  merchants  are  a  feature  in  them- 
selves, illuminated  as  they  are  in  vivid  hues  of  red 
and  gold,  in  those  wonderful  characters  so  full  of 
mystery  to  the  foreigner. 

In  a  native  city  up-country  the  traveller  is  prac- 
tically forced  to  go  through  the  city  in  a  chair. 
There  are  no  wheel  conveyances  except  wheelbarrows, 
and,  except  where  there  are  Manchus,  horses  are 
quite  unknown.  Walking  is  profoundly  unpleasant 
for  a  European,  for  as  he  walks  along  he  is  con- 
stantly jostled  by  porters  carrying  loads  of  goods 
on  a  bamboo  across  their  shoulders ;  or  cries  are 
heard,  and  a  Chinese  Mandarin  is  carried  past 
shoulder  high,  leaning  forward  looking  out  of  his 

a 


98  CHANGING  CHINA 

chair  perhaps  with  a  smile  of  contempt  for  the 
foreigner  who  can  so  demean  himselt  as  to  go  on 
foot  like  a  common  coolie ;  or  perhaps  it  is  a  lady 
with  her  chair  closely  covered  in  and  only  a  glimpse 
to  be  seen  of  a  rouged  and  powdered  face,  for  the 
Chinese  women  paint  to  excess,  as  part  of  their 
ordinary  toilette.  Next  comes  the  water-carrier 
hurrying  past  with  his  two  buckets  of  water  ;  or 
perhaps  it  is  some  malodorous  burden  which  makes 
a  Western  long  to  be  deprived  of  the  sense  of  smell. 
But  in  a  chair  a  ride  through  a  Chinese  town  is 
delightful ;  the  chair-coolies  push  past  foot-passengers 
who  accept  their  buffets  with  the  greatest  equa- 
nimity, and  from  a  comparatively  elevated  position 
the  traveller  can  look  down  on  the  crowd. 

But  when  the  Chinese  city  is  near  a  port,  all 
this  begins  to  change.  The  chair  is  replaced  by  the 
ricksha,  and  though  in  many  ways  it  is  less  com- 
fortable than  a  chair,  the  ricksha  is  after  all  the 
beginning  of  the  rule  of  the  West,  being  a  labour- 
saving  machine.  One  coolie  or  two  at  the  most  can 
drag  a  man  quickly  and  easily  where  with  a  chair 
three  or  four  bearers  would  be  needed.  Outside  the 
old  town  will  be  built  the  new  native  town,  and 
the  new  native  town  is  built  on  European  lines, 
with  comparatively  wide  streets.  In  a  treaty  port 
the  completed  specimen  of  the  transitional  stage 
through  which  all  China  is  passing  is  to  be  seen. 
Shanghai  is  a  most  delightful  tow^n,  although  it 
seems  commonplace  to  those  who  live  there,  but 


THE  CITIES  OF  CHINA  99 

to  a  stranger  it  is  a  place  full  of  contradictions 
and  eccentricities.  The  first  thing  that  strikes  one 
in  Shanghai  is  that  none  of  the  natives  know  any 
of  the  names  of  the  streets.  It  is  true  they  are 
written  up  in  large  letters  both  in  English  and  in 
Chinese ;  but  as  not  one  of  the  coolies  can  read, 
they  have  not  the  very  slightest  idea  that  that  is 
the  name  of  the  street — they  call  it  quite  a  different 
name ;  and  as  they  speak  a  different  language  both 
to  that  of  the  educated  Chinaman  and  to  the  English- 
man, there  is  no  reason  why  they  should  ever  learn 
the  names  given  by  them.  The  habitual  way  of 
directing  a  ricksha  coolie  is  by  a  sort  of  pantomime, 
and  there  is  always  a  great  element  of  uncertainty 
as  to  whether  he  will  get  to  his  destination  even 
with  the  oldest  resident  unless  he  knows  the  way 
himself  I  arrived  at  Tientsin  and  tried  to  go  and 
see  Dr.  Lavington  Hart,  whose  college  is  known 
all  over  China,  I  may  say  all  over  the  world,  but 
the  Chinese  porter  was  quite  unable  to  make  the 
coolie  understand  where  it  was,  and  so  we  wandered 
about  for  some  time  till  the  coolie  got  tired  and  put 
me  down  opposite  what  fortunately  turned  out  to 
be  the  house  of  a  Japanese  gentleman.  I  entered 
the  house,  and  was  surprised  that  the  Chinese 
servant  who  met  me  did  not  altogether  seem  to 
expect  me ;  but  as  he  could  not  speak  English  and 
I  could  not  speak  Chinese,  it  was  impossible  to 
inquire  if  anything  w^as  wrong.  I  was  just  wonder- 
ing why  Dr.  Hart  should  live  in  a  Japanese  house, 


CHANGING  CHINA 


when  the  door  opened  and  a  Japanese  gentleman 
walked  in.  Fortunately  for  me  he  spoke  both  Chinese 
and  English  well ;  so  after  explanations  I  was  again 
sent  on  my  road,  and  found  Dr.  Lavington  Hart 
waiting  dinner  for  me,  and  wondering  how  I  had 
got  lost.  He  then  told  me  that  I  should  have  asked 
not  for  his  college  but  for  the  hospital  opposite,  and 
that  I  should  have  asked  not  for  the  street  but  for 
the  Chinese  name  of  the  doctor  of  the  hospital  who 
had  been  dead  ten  or  fifteen  years. 

There  is  a  moral  in  all  this  :  it  shows  the  state 
of  confusion  that  exists  in  small  as  well  as  in  large 
things.  I  asked  several  Englishmen  why  they  did 
not  accept  the  native  names  of  the  streets ;  their 
answer  was  that  the  coolies  could  not  read  them ; 
and  when  I  suggested  that  common  sense  would 
expect  that  the  coolies'  names  should  be  taken  for 
the  streets,  for  after  all  that  is  how  most  of  the 
streets  in  England  were  originally  named,  the  sug- 
gestion met  with  no  approval.  These  small  matters 
show  what  a  great  gulf  there  is  between  the  thoughts 
of  the  two  races.  If  the  coolies  had  been  Italians  or 
Germans  or  Russians,  their  names  would  have  been 
accepted,  or  they  would  have  been  compelled  to 
learn  the  new  names. 

Another  example  of  the  difficulty  of  carrying  on 
the  details  of  city  life  is  afforded  by  a  common 
spectacle  at  Shanghai.  In  the  crowded  streets  you 
see  a  little  crowd  of  policemen.  The  group  consists 
of  three   splendid   men,  typical  of  three  different 


THE  CITIES  OF  CHINA  loi 

civilisations.  First  there  is  the  English  policeman ; 
next  to  him  is  a  black-bearded  man,  bigger  than 
the  first,  a  Sikh,  every  gesture  and  action  revealing 
the  martial  characteristics  of  his  race ;  then  a  China- 
man completes  the  group,  blue-coated  and  wearing 
a  queue  and  a  round  Chinese  hat  as  a  sign  of  office. 
The  traveller  wonders  why  this  trio  is  needed  till 
he  sees  them  in  action.  A  motor  car  rushes  down 
one  road,  a  ricksha  comes  down  another,  and  a 
Chinese  wheelbarrow  with  six  women  sitting  on  it 
slowly  progresses  down  a  third.  All  three  convey- 
ances are  controlled  by  Chinamen,  and  when  they 
meet,  all  shout  and  shriek  at  the  top  of  their 
voices ;  no  one  keeps  the  rule  of  the  road,  with 
the  probable  result  that  the  wheelbarrow  is  upset, 
the  ricksha  is  forced  against  the  wall,  and  the 
motor  car  pulled  up  dead.  Then  the  police  force 
comes  into  action.  The  Chinese  policeman  objurgates 
vociferously  and  makes  signals  indifferently  to  every- 
body ;  the  Sikh  policeman  at  once  begins  to  thrash 
the  Chinese  coolie ;  meanwhile  the  English  police- 
man at  last  gets  the  traffic  on  the  right  side  of 
the  road,  quiets  his  subordinates,  sees  justice  done, 
and  restores  order.  Possibly  if  the  matter  had 
been  left  to  the  Chinese  policeman,  he  would  have 
arranged  it  in  the  end ;  the  traffic  in  Peking  was 
controlled  entirely  by  Chinese  policemen  and  was 
fairly  well  managed. 

There  is  an  extraordinary  example  of  the  want 
of  consideration  for  the  feelings  of  the  Chinese  to 


I02 


CHANGING  CHINA 


be  seen  in  the  public  gardens  at  Shanghai.  There 
stands  a  notice  which  contains,  among  several  regula- 
tions, first,  that  *'no  dogs  or  bicycles  shall  be  ad- 
mitted "  ;  secondly,  that  "  no  Chinese  shall  be  admitted 
except  servants  in  attendance  on  foreigners."  Con- 
sidering that  the  land  is  Chinese  soil,  one  cannot  but 
wonder  that  any  one  who  had  dealings  with  the 
Chinese  should  allow  so  ill-mannered  a  notice  to  be  put 
up.  No  Chinese  gentleman  would  object  for  a  moment 
if  the  notice  had  been  to  the  effect  that  unclean 
persons  and  beggars  should  be  excluded  from  the 
gardens ;  but  to  exclude  the  cultured  Chinese  mer- 
chant who  is  every  whit  as  clean  as  his  Western 
neighbour,  or  to  exclude  the  respectable  people  of 
the  middle  class  whose  orderly  behaviour  is  beyond 
suspicion,  is  as  unreasonable  as  it  is  regrettable. 

Again,  the  Shanghai  municipality  has  no  Chinese 
representatives  upon  it,  though  the  great  bulk  of  the 
population  is  Chinese,  with  the  result  that  from  time 
to  time  they  come  across  Chinese  prejudices  and 
quite  unnecessarily  irritate  the  population  which 
they  govern.  The  Chinese  have  a  principle  that 
a  woman  shall  be  publicly  punished  only  for  adultery 
and  open  shameless  theft ;  her  "  face  "or  dignity  must 
be  preserved ;  and  therefore  she  should  never  be  made 
to  answer  for  her  offences  in  open  court,  her  husband 
or  her  father  being  held  responsible  for  her  behaviour 
and  for  her  punishment.  The  right  way  of  dealing  with 
any  woman  who  is  charged  with  an  offence  is  to  do  as 
we  do  in  England  with  regard  to  children,  to  summon 


THE  CITIES  OF  CHINA  103 

not  her  but  those  responsible  for  her  behaviour.  I 
was  assured  by  a  Chinese  ofl&cial  that  the  trouble 
which  culminated  in  the  Shanghai  riots  originated 
from  disregard  of  this  principle.  The  refusal  of  the 
Shanghai  municipality  to  have  Chinese  representa- 
tives upon  it  is  the  more  remarkable,  as  I  was  informed 
at  Hong-Kong  that  they  have  such  representatives, 
and  find  them  most  useful  in  assisting  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Chinese.  It  is  not  surprising  that 
Shanghai  is  a  town  to  which  it  is  diplomatic  to 
make  no  reference  in  conversation  with  a  Chinese 
gentleman. 

There  is  more  to  be  said  for  the  mistrust  of  the 
Chinese  Post-office  and  for  the  continuation  of  the 
curious  system  by  which  each  nation  has  its  own 
post-office.  Nothing  is  more  annoying  to  the  traveller 
in  Shanghai  than  the  trouble  he  has  to  get  his  letters. 
If  it  should  so  happen  that  he  has  correspondents  in 
many  countries,  he  has  to  go  to  every  one  of  the  many 
post-offices  in  Shanghai,  and  they  are  situated  in 
different  parts  of  the  town  and  in  places  very  difficult 
to  find.  There  is  the  Imperial  Chinese  Post-office,  to 
which  he  first  repairs,  and  where  he  will  find  letters 
from  any  correspondent  in  China ;  then  with  the 
greatest  difficulty  he  reaches  the  English  Post-office  ; 
after  which  he  remembers  that  some  of  his  fi:iends  may 
be  on  a  holiday  in  France,  therefore  he  must  go  to  the 
French  Post-office,  and  so  on.  When  he  asks  why 
the  Chinese  Post-office  cannot  be  trusted,  he  is  told 
that  the  Chinese  themselves  will  not  trust  their  post- 


I04  CHANGING  CHINA 

office  unless  there  be  a  European  official  in  control, 
and  that  the  old  Chinese  system  by  which  letters  are 
forwarded  by  private  companies  still  continues  in 
many  parts  of  China,  although  they  possess  branches 
of  the  Imperial  Chinese  Post-office.  Still  the  traveller 
wearily  thinks  at  the  end  of  his  day's  journey  that 
without  undue  trust  in  another  nationality,  or  any 
loss  of  national  prestige,  an  International  Post-office 
might  be  arranged  in  a  town  like  Shanghai,  with  its 
vast  travelling  population. 

Shanghai  with  its  mixture  of  races,  with  its 
national  antipathies  and  jealousies,  is  indeed  one  of 
the  most  attractive  but  strangest  towns  in  the  whole 
world.  Every  race  meets  there ;  and  as  one  wanders 
down  the  Nanking  road,  one  never  tires  of  watching 
the  nationalities  which  throng  that  thoroughfare. 
There  walks  a  tall  bearded  Russian,  a  fat  German, 
jostling  perhaps  a  tiny  Japanese  officer,  whose  whole 
air  shows  that  he  regards  himself  as  a  member  of 
the  conquering  race  that  has  checkmated  the  vast 
power  of  Europe  ;  there  are  sleek  Chinese  in  Western 
carriages,  and  there  are  thin  Americans  in  Eastern 
rickshas  ;  the  motor  cycle  rushes  past,  nearly  colliding 
with  a  closely-curtained  chair  bearing  a  Chinese  lady 
of  rank,  or  a  splendid  Indian  in  a  yellow  silk  coat  is 
struck  in  the  face  by  the  hat  of  a  Frenchman,  who 
finds  the  pavements  of  Shanghai  too  narrow  for  his 
sweeping  salute ;  one  hears  guttural  German  alter- 
nating with  Cockney  slang ;  Parisian  toilettes  are 
seen  next  half-naked  coolies ;  a  couple  of  sailors  on 


THE  CITIES  OF  CHINA  105 

a  tandem  cycle  almost  upset  two  Japanese  beauties 
as  they  shuffle  along  with  their  toes  turned  in ;  a 
grey  gowned  Buddhist  priest  elbows  a  bearded  Boman 
missionary ;  a  Russian  shop  where  patriotism  rather 
than  love  of  gain  induces  the  owners  to  conceal  the 
nature  of  their  wares  by  employing  the  Russian 
alphabet  overhead,  stands  opposite  a  Japanese  shop 
which,  in  not  too  perfect  English,  assures  the  wide 
world  that  their  heads  can  be  cut  cheaply  ;  an  English 
lady  looks  askance  at  the  tightness  of  her  Chinese 
sisters  nether  garments,  while  the  Chinese  sister 
wonders  how  the  white  race  can  tolerate  the  in- 
decency that  allows  a  woman  to  show  her  shape  and 
wear  transparent  sleeves. 

Yes,  Shanghai  on  a  spring  afternoon  is  a  most 
interesting  place ;  and  yet  as  you  turn  your  eyes  to 
the  river  and  catch  sight  of  the  dark  grey  warship, 
you  realise  that  beneath  all  this  peace  and  busy  com- 
merce lies  the  fear  of  the  grim  realities  of  war. 
China  may  assimilate  the  adjuncts  of  Western  life, 
but  she  will  never  welcome  the  Western.  The  racial 
gulf  that  divides  them  is  far  too  deep.  It  may  be 
temporarily  bridged  by  the  heroism  of  a  missionary ; 
the  enthusiasm  of  Christianity  may  make  those  who 
embrace  it  brothers ;  but  the  feeling  of  love  will  not 
extend  one  inch  beyond  the  influence  of  religion  ;  and 
those  who  ponder  on  the  future  as  they  watch  the 
many-hued  crowd  that  passes  must  grow  more  and 
more  sure  that  the  future  of  China  lies  with  the 
Chinese  alone,  and  however  much  as  a  race  they  may 


io6  CHANGING  CHINA 


be  willing  to  learn  from  the  West,  they  will  as  a  race 
be  led  only  by  their  own  people.  The  Westerner 
may  be  employed ;  Western  teaching  may  be  learnt ; 
Western  garments  may  be  worn ;  but,  as  a  Chinese 
professor  said,  '*  The  wearer  will  be  a  Chinaman  all 
the  same." 


CHAPTER  IX 


OPIUM 

There  was  one  marked  difference  in  the  cities  of 
China  as  we  saw  them  in  our  two  visits,  and  this 
was  the  change  that  had  taken  place  in  the  matter 
of  opium  -  smoking.  Opium  -  smoking  in  1907  was 
such^a  common  vice  that  you  could  see  men  smoking 
it  at  the  doors  of  their  houses.  In  1909  opium- 
smoking  hid  itself,  and  those  that  smoked,  smoked 
secretly,  or  at  any  rate  less  ostentatiously.  I  doubt 
whether  so  great  an  alteration  has  taken  place  in 
any  country,  certainly  not  of  late  years. 

Each  race  has  its  peculiar  vice ;  in  fact,  we  may 
go  further  than  that,  we  may  say  that  it  is  a  re- 
markable fact  that  the  great  bulk  of  mankind  insists 
on  taking  some  form  of  poison ;  in  fact,  it  is  only  a 
minute  minority  which  wholly  abstains  from  this 
practice.  The  poisons  used  by  mankind  have  different 
effects  and  have  a  different  degree  of  toxic  power,  but 
the  reason  they  are  used  is  because  in  some  way  they 
stimulate  or  soothe  the  nervous  system.  Opium, 
alcohol,  tobacco,  tea,  coffee,  hashish,  are  examples 
of  this  widespread  habit  of  humanity ;  but  these 
different  drugs  have  the  most  different  effects  on 

the  welfare  of  man.     Some   seem   to   be  wholly 

107 


io8  CHANGING  CHINA 


innocuous  if  not  beneficial,  and  others  seem  to  be 
absolutely  pernicious  and  to  do  nothing  but  evil ; 
and  further  than  that,  one  may  say  that  a  different 
preparation  of  the  same  drug  or  a  difierent  way  of 
taking  it  produces  differing  results.  A  still  more 
curious  thing  is  that  though  all  mankind  is  agreed 
in  taking  some  poison,  there  is  a  marked  racial 
tendency  to  accept  one  particular  poison  and  to 
detest  others,  and  at  times  it  seems  as  if  the  habit 
of  taking  one  was  sufficient  to  prevent  another 
having  any  attraction. 

As  we  went  to  China  we  passed  through  the 
Suez  Canal,  and  heard  what  a  curse  hashish  was  in 
Egypt,  and  how  the  Egyptian  Government  had  en- 
deavoured to  secure  total  prohibition  of  the  use  of 
this  obnoxious  drug,  a  course  which  was  impossible 
owing  to  the  great  amount  of  smuggling  that  was 
facilitated  by  the  wide  deserts  that  surround  Egypt. 

"When  we  arrived  at  Saigon  (we  were  travelling 
by  the  French  mail)  we  first  came  in  contact  with 
the  terrible  vice  of  the  Chinese.  A  French  lady 
was  pointed  out  to  us  by  a  doctor,  and  he  asked  us 
to  observe  the  odd  glassy  look  of  her  eyes,  the  in- 
tense suavity  of  her  manner  and  the  contempt  which 
she  evinced  for  truth,  and  he  told  us  that  these  were 
all  symptoms  of  the  vice  of  opium-smoking  that  she 
had  contracted  from  association  with  the  Annamites. 
The  French  for  some  mysterious  reason  seem  more 
prone  to  acquire  this  vice  than  do  our  own  country- 
men, for  though  in  1907  it  was  rife  in  South  China, 


OPIUM  109 

no  one  ever  suggested  that  any  English  smoked 
opium  at  Hong-Kong. 

As  we  went  up  to  Canton  crowds  of  people  were 
smoking  opium  on  the  Chinese  deck,  and  when  we 
wandered  round  they  had  no  objection  to  our  stand- 
ing watching  the  lazy  process  of  dipping  the  needle 
into  the  treacle-like  mixture,  turning  it  round  till  a 
bead  was  formed,  then  putting  it  into  the  lamp  to 
light  'and  thence  transferring  it  to  the  opium  pipe, 
when  after  three  whiffs  or  so  the  process  had  to  be 
begun  again. 

The  first  effect  of  opium-smoking  is  to  make  a 
man  intelligent  and  amiable.  It  is  for  this  reason 
that  opium-smoking — so  the  Chinese  explained  to 
us — is  used  largely  in  business.  When  business  is 
difficult,  and  you  cannot  get  three  or  four  men  to 
agree,  the  opium  pipe  is  brought  out,  and  after  two 
or  three  whifis  the  cantankerous  people  are  reason- 
able, and  the  people  whose  dignity  is  hurt  are 
forgiving,  and  business  is  easily  and  rapidly  trans- 
acted. The  next  stage  of  smoking  is  stupidity.  As 
you  watch  an  opium-smoker  in  that  condition  he 
nods  amiably  at  you  with  a  rather  imbecile  look. 
The  last  stage  is  one  of  heavy  senseless  sleep.  The 
habitual  opium-smoker  rarely  passes  the  first  stage, 
and  its  apparently  beneficial  influence  constitutes  its 
danger.  Each  man  says  to  himself :  "I  will  never 
take  it  to  excess ;  I  will  merely  use  it  and  not  abuse 
it ;  it  makes  life  sweet  to  me  and  business  easy." 

I  have  always  thought  that  those  who  condemn 


no  CHANGING  CHINA 

opium  have  a  tendency  to  prove  too  much  in  their 
arsfument.  If  it  could  be  shown  that  the  effects  of 
opium- taking  were  invariably  pernicious,  it  would  be 
very  hard  to  see  how  the  vice  could  take  such  a  hold 
as  it  has  taken  on  the  Chinese  race;  if  the  young 
men  regularly  saw  that  the  older  men  were  brought 
to  inanity  and  death  by  the  use  of  opium,  they 
would  themselves  be  terrified  of  contracting  the 
vice,  and  it  would  not  have  spread  as  rapidly  as  it 
has  done.  The  vice  is  essentially  modern.  Opium 
has  only  been  grown  in  China  for  about  seventy  or 
eighty  years,  and  it  has  only  been  imported  in  large 
quantities  for  a  scarcely  longer  period  of  time.  An 
inhabitant  of  Shansi  told  us  that  though  every 
one  smoked  opium,  and  it  was  a  terrible  curse, 
his  father  remembered  its  introduction.  Opium  is 
certainly  deleterious  to  the  moral  fibre  of  a  race, 
and  in  many  cases  it  produces  death  and  misery ; 
but  there  are  a  certain  number  of  cases  where  no 
obvious  evil  effects  follow  from  its  consumption — cases 
when  aa  a  rule  a  man  is  well-nourished,  for  it  acts 
most  deleteriously  on  a  man's  powers  of  digestion. 
Men  who  have  good  food  can  better  tolerate  the 
effects  of  the  drug,  so  a  mission  doctor  explained, 
and  their  comparative  immunity  tempts  others  to 
follow  their  example.  Men  do  not  see  at  once  the 
evil  that  will  result,  and  so  its  use  has  spread  by 
leaps  and  bounds.  The  Chinese  Government  have 
always  theoretically  resisted  it,  but  their  action  has 
been  hampered  by  their  not  being  permitted  to  pro- 


OPIUM 


1 1 1 


hibit  its  importation.  For  many  years  the  pro-opium 
party  in  China  used  those  treaty  obhgations  by  which 
China  was  bound  to  permit  the  importation  of  opium 
as  a  reason  for  stopping  any  efforts  to  extirpate  the 
vice  in  the  country.  Not  only  were  there  always  a 
great  number  of  people  in  high  places  addicted  to 
the  vice,  who  were  naturally  unwilling  to  remove 
from  themselves  the  opportunity  of  its  gratification, 
but  also  there  was  a  vast  number  of  people  who 
rapidly  acquired  a  great  pecuniary  interest  both  in 
the  maintenance  and  extension  of  this  trade. 

Unfortunately  for  humanity,  opium  was  not  only 
very  injurious  but  extremely  portable,  and  it  there- 
fore formed  in  a  country  where  means  of  communica- 
tion are  bad  a  very  useful  article  of  exchange.  The 
peasant  farmer  will  grow  most  things  on  his  little  farm 
which  he  and  his  family  consume — in  most  respects 
they  will  be  a  self-supporting  community — but  there 
must  be  a  certain  number  of  things  which  they  will 
need  to  buy,  and  for  which  they  must  give  something 
in  exchange ;  that  something  must  be  portable.  In 
many  cases  the  only  way  of  bringing  your  goods  to 
the  market  is  by  carrying  them  on  your  own  back. 
Opium,  alas,  forms,  in  soils  which  it  suits,  a  most 
remunerative  crop.  The  whole  product  of  several 
fields  can  be  carried  quite  easily  on  a  man's  back  and 
can  be  sent  down  to  the  market,  where  it  will  find 
a  ready  sale,  and  the  result  of  that  sale  will  be 
invested  in  articles  of  which  the  farmer  and  his 
family  have  need. 


112 


CHANGING  CHINA 


Not  only  the  farmer,  but  the  trader,  both 
Chinese  and  European,  find  it  a  most  profitable 
source  of  trade.  It  was  hard,  and  it  is  hard,  to 
persuade  the  European  trader  that  it  is  injurious 
to  China,  and  to  understand  the  reason  we  must 
turn  back  to  the  thought  which  was  suggested  at 
the  beginning  of  the  chapter,  namely,  that  it  is 
very  doubtful  whether  the  English  race  has  any 
natural  desire  for  the  vice,  while  it  is  most  patent 
that  the  Chinese  have  a  peculiar  national  tendency 
towards  this  form  of  dissipation.  When  people  have 
no  desire  for  an  intoxicant  themselves,  it  is  hard  to 
persuade  them  that  others  may  have  a  desire  which 
may  be  beyond  all  power  of  restraint.  The  trading 
class  mixes  but  little  socially  with  the  Chinese,  and 
the  people  with  whom  they  are  brought  in  contact 
are  very  generally  pecuniarily  interested  in  the  opium 
trade,  and  therefore  they  have  neither  the  evidence 
of  the  Chinese  nor  of  their  own  temptation  to  con- 
vince them  of  the  insidious  and  dangerous  character 
of  this  vice  to  the  Chinese  race. 

The  English  race  has  long  been  conversant  with 
opium.  In  the  form  of  laudanum  it  used  to  be  sold 
freely  in  the  eastern  counties.  I  have  heard  people  de- 
scribe years  ago  how  the  old  women  from  the  fen  round 
Lowestoft,  or  the  marshes  as  they  are  there  called, 
would  call  on  market  day  at  the  chemist  for  their 
regular  supply  of  laudanum,  which  they  would  take  in 
quantities  sufficient  to  make  any  ordinary  person  go 
fast  asleep.    It  was  used  there,  as  it  is  used  in  many 


OPIUM  113 

countries,  as  a  prophylactic  against  ague.  The 
doctors  now  deny  that  it  has  any  beneficial  effect, 
but  the  people  in  the  eastern  counties  used  to  think 
differently.  But  when  I  was  a  curate  at  Yarmouth 
I  could  find  no  traces  of  this  vice ;  it  had  apparently 
been  exterminated  not  by  any  social  reform  or  moral 
movement,  but  by  the  superior  attraction  of  alcohol ; 
and  in  my  day  Yarmouth  and  the  district  round  was 
terribly  addicted  to  the  national  vice  of  intemperance, 
I  noticed  the  same  thing  in  Shanghai.  The  English 
know  opium;  most  of  them  have  out  of  curiosity 
tried  a  pipe ;  and  they  describe  the  effects  as  trifling 
or  very  unpleasant.  One  man  said  that  he  felt  as  if 
all  his  bones  were  a  jelly ;  another  that  he  felt  as  if 
he  was  floating  between  heaven  and  earth ;  a  third 
that  he  found  no  pleasure  in  it  at  all,  but  that  he 
had  a  "filthy  headache"  next  day.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  you  go  into  the  Shanghai  Club  you  can  see 
at  once  what  is  the  attractive  vice  to  the  European 
at  Shanghai ;  the  whole  of  one  side  of  the  entrance 
hall  was  nothing  more  than  the  bar  of  an  overgrown 
public-house.  You  will  hear  story  after  story  which 
tells  the  same  old  tale  that  alcohol,  especially  in  its 
strongest  form,  is  the  greatest  pleasure  and  the  worst 
danger  to  the  Englishman  abroad  as  at  home. 

If  opium  is  unattractive  to  the  white  man,  on  the 
other  hand  alcohol  is  equally  unattractive  to  the 
yellow  man;  in  fact,  their  relative  position  is  much 
the  same.  The  yellow  man  has  known  of  alcohol 
from  the  very  earliest  ages.     Dr.  Ross  quotes  the 


114  CHANGING  CHINA 

second  ode  of  the  Book  of  Poetry  as  showing  how 
well  known  drunkenness  was  to  the  Chinese : 
"  Before  they  drank  too  much,  they  were  dignified 
and  grave ;  but  with  too  much  drink  their  dignity 
changed  to  indecency,  their  gravity  to  rudeness ;  the 
fact  is,  that  when  they  have  become  drunk  they  lose 
all  sense  of  order.  When  the  guests  have  drunk  too 
much,  they  shout,  they  brawl,  they  upset  the  orderly 
arrangement  of  the  dishes,  they  dance  about  un- 
steadily, their  caps  are  set  awry  and  threaten  to  fall 
off,  they  dance  about  and  do  not  know  when  to  stop. 
Had  they  gone  out  before  drinking  so  deeply,  both 
host  and  guest  would  have  been  happier.  Drinking 
gives  real  happiness  only  when  it  is  taken  in  modera- 
tion according  to  propriety." 

Drunkenness  seems  to  have  been  extirpated  from 
China  by  the  same  process  that  laudanum-taking  was 
from  the  eastern  counties,  namely,  it  has  given  way 
before  the  more  entrancing  vice  of  opium-smoking. 
I  was  assured  that  the  Tibetans  do  not  share  with 
the  Chinese  this  preference  for  opium,  and  this  is  all 
the  more  remarkable  because  from  their  geographical 
position  they  have  always  been  in  close  contact  with 
India,  which  is  apparently  the  home  of  the  opium 
vice,  but  they  have  adhered  steadily  to  the  vice  of 
drunkenness.  The  Chinese  have  free  trade  in  drink ; 
they  have  no  licensing  laws  ;  any  one  may  sell  alcohol 
at  any  time  of  the  day,  in  any  place  they  like ;  and 
yet  alcohol  has  so  few  votaries  that  you  will  scarcely 
see  a  drunken  man  from  one  end  of  China  to  another. 


OPIUM  115 

If  the  English  commercial  world  is  incredulous 
to  the  danger  of  opium  to  the  Chinaman,  not  so  the 
Chinese  world.  People  will  tell  you  that  Orientals 
love  to  agree  with  you  in  whatever  you  say,  but  I 
heard  a  British  Vice-consul  flatly  contradicted  by  a 
Chinese  official  when  the  Vice-consul  expressed  a 
doubt  as  to  the  danger  of  the  vice,  and  I  must  say 
the  Chinese  disputant  supported  his  contradiction 
with  an  argument  which  seemed  to  me  perfectly  un- 
answerable. He  said  :  Look  at  the  Japanese  ;  they 
are  impartial  spectators  of  the  vice  of  alcoholism  and 
opium-smoking ;  they  are  conversant  with  the  worst 
forms  of  alcoholism  that  white  men  can  show  them. 
It  is  well  known  that  white  sailors  are  great  offenders 
in  this  respect.  Every  port  in  Japan  knows  what  it 
is  to  see  a  drunken  sailor  finding  his  way  to  his  ship. 
They  are  equally  conversant  with  the  vice  of  opium- 
smoking.  They  have  intimate  contact  with  the 
Chinese  ;  they  know  both  the  recent  origin  of  this 
vice  and  its  terrible  ravages ;  and  what  do  they  do  ? 
Do  they  forbid  both  vices  equally  ?  No  ;  they  are  so 
convinced  that  opium  is  so  much  more  dangerous  than 
alcohol,  that  they  will  not  allow  it  to  be  introduced 
into  their  country  for  smoking  purposes,  and  the 
smuggler  is  liable  to  five  years'  penal  servitude. 
But  the  vice  of  alcoholism  they  treat  as  something 
which,  though  harmful,  can  never  threaten  their 
national  existence." 

Perhaps  we  who  have  suffered  much  more  from 
the  vice  of  alcoholism  than  of  opium-smoking  may  be 


ii6  CHANGING  CHINA 


inclined  to  think  that  while  the  Japanese  are  right  in 
the  opium  question,  they  are  acting  imprudently  in 
allowing  alcoholism  to  gain  such  a  hold  on  their 
people ;  but  whether  they  are  right  or  wrong,  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Chinese  official  had  justice 
on  his  side  when  he  pointed  out  that  to  the  Japanese 
mind  the  evils  that  opium-smoking  had  done  to  China 
were  of  a  most  serious  character. 

His  Excellency  T'ang-K'ai-Sun  spoke  the  Chinese 
mind  when,  in  an  eloquent  speech  at  the  Shanghai 
Conference,  he  told  of  the  awful  desolation  that 
opium  was  bringing  to  his  land.  But  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  quote  the  opinion  of  individual  Chinamen ; 
they  are  practically  unanimous  on  this  subject.  One 
has  only  got  to  point  to  what  China  has  done  to 
show  two  things.  First,  that  the  curse  of  opium- 
smoking  was  far  greater  and  more  horrible  than 
anything  that  we  have  experienced  on  this  side  of 
the  globe ;  next,  that  there  is  latent  in  the  Chinese 
character  a  vigour  and  an  energy  which,  when  it  is 
called  into  action,  despises  all  obstacles  and  acts  so 
efficiently  as  to  leave  the  world  lost  in  astonishment. 
Realise  what  China  has  done.  China  is  addicted  to 
a  vice  which  has  a  far  greater  hold  upon  her  than 
alcoholism  has  upon  us ;  she  determines  that  within 
ten  years  that  vice  is  to  cease.  The  production  of 
the  poppy  is  to  be  diminished  till  none  is  produced ; 
opium-smokers  are  to  be  held  up  to  public  scorn ; 
opium  dens — which  are  really  the  equivalent  of  our 
public-houses — are  to  be  closed ;  all  officials  who  take 


OPIUM 


117 


opium  are  to  be  turned  out  of  Government  employ  ; 
the  only  exception  that  is  made  is  for  old  men,  and 
that  exception  was  quite  unavoidable.  So  vigorous 
was  the  action  of  the  Government  that  men  who  have 
for  forty  or  fifty  years  of  their  lives  taken  opium, 
tried  to  give  it  up ;  the  result  was  in  several  cases 
that  they  were  unable  to  support  the  physical  strain ; 
a  great  illness,  even  death,  ensued ;  and  so  the  edict 
was  relaxed ;  men  over  sixty  were  allowed  to  con- 
tinue smoking.  When  all  this  was  published,  every 
one  smiled.  They  argued  that  China  was  trying  to  do 
the  impossible.  A  vice  like  opium- smoking  may  be 
extirpated,  but  only  after  years  of  struggle.  A  gene- 
ration must  come  and  a  generation  must  go  before 
opium  or  any  similar  vice  shows  appreciable  dimi- 
nution. 

We  ourselves  have  not  been  unsuccessful  in 
struggling  against  the  vice  of  alcoholism ;  but  con- 
sider the  number  of  years  since  Father  Mathew 
first  spoke  against  drink.  England  may  be  growing 
sober,  but  it  is  by  slow  if  steady  degrees.  But  China 
hopes  to  accomplish  in  ten  years  what  has  taken 
England  so  many  patient  years  of  toil  to  effect 
partially.  The  idea  that  China  could  do  this  was 
regarded  by  most  Westerns  as  almost  laughable.  In 
1907,  when  the  edict  was  first  put  forth,  all  those  we 
met  in  China  held  this  view ;  even  missionaries,  while 
they  gave  every  credit  to  the  Government  for  what 
it  intended,  shook  their  heads  and  foretold  dis- 
appointment.   We  noticed  as  we  passed  along  that 


ii8  CHANGING  CHINA 


wonderful  line  that  links  Hankow  to  Peking  and 
Peking  to  Harbin  in  1907  that  the  country  was 
beautiful  with  the  white  and  pink  crops  of  poppy, 
till  at  times  one  might  imagine  that  the  transforma- 
tion scene  of  a  London  theatre  was  before  us  rather 
than  the  land  of  China,  and  remembering  what  we 
had  been  told,  we  also  confidently  expected  failure  to 
the  edict  which  requires  the  destruction  of  so  many 
miles  of  this  pernicious  if  beautiful  crop. 

In  1909,  when  we  again  traversed  the  same  country, 
we  could  not  see  a  single  poppy  flower ;  not  only  so, 
but  we  made  every  effort  to  see  if  we  could  find  a  field. 
We  went  for  a  twenty  mile  walk  at  Ichang  through 
the  country,  where  no  one  could  have  expected  a 
foreigner  to  come,  and  we  only  found  one  tiny  patch 
of  poppy,  and  one  in  which  the  ruthless  hand  of 
the  law  had  rooted  up  the  growing  crop.  As  we 
went  up  the  Gorges  of  the  Yangtsze  we  scanned 
with  a  strong  glass  the  hillside,  and  never  once  on 
those  glorious  mountains  did  we  see  any  sign  of 
opium  cultivation.  We  asked  about  the  officials ; 
not  only  was  the  Government  enforcing  the  law  that 
officials  must  give  up  opium-smoking,  but  they  were 
taking  a  more  effectual  action ;  they  were  requiring 
all  those  who  were  going  to  be  officials  to  spend  some 
time  under  supervision,  to  ensure  that  they  should 
not  be  opium-smokers.  Could  any  Western  power 
hope  to  accomplish  such  a  feat?  Would  the  most 
extreme  temperance  reformer  suggest  that  all  public- 
houses  should  be  closed,  that  the  amount  of  barley 


OPIUM  119 

should  be  diminished  every  year  till  within  ten  years 
none  should  be  grown,  and  that  all  the  Govern- 
ment officials,  from  the  Prime  Minister  downwards, 
should  become  total  abstainers  within  that  period? 
The  reason  of  this  vigorous  action  of  China  and  its 
present  success  is  to  be  attributed  to  two  things : 
first,  to  the  terrible  and  very  real  national  fear  that 
this  vice  will  destroy  the  nation,  as  it  has  destroyed 
countless  families  and  individuals ;  secondly,  to  the 
vast  store  of  energy  which  enables  China  to  accept 
new  ideas  and  act  vigorously  on  them. 

The  great  revolution  of  thought  that  is  going  on 
has  called  forth  this  vigour.  The  China  of  yesterday 
was  faineant  and  unprogressive.  The  China  that  is 
emerging  out  of  this  revolution  of  thought  is  ener- 
getic, though  possibly  unpractical.  The  old  tradi- 
tions of  Government  are  not  lost,  and  they  wait  but 
for  the  man  and  the  hour  to  enable  China  to  act  as 
vigorously  as  she  has  done  in  time  past.  Her  action 
in  this  opium  question  may  be  ill-considered  in  some 
details;  it  may  even  fail;  but  it  has  shown  the 
world  that  China  is  in  earnest,  and  that  she  can  act 
with  a  vigour  which  will  cause  wonder  and  envy  on 
this  side  of  the  world.  Every  missionary  reports  that 
even  high  officials  are  coming  asking  to  be  cured  of 
the  opium  habit.  The  missionaries  have  founded 
refuges  where  they  receive  and  cure  those  who  are 
ready  to  submit  to  the  terrible  ordeal,  for  their  suf- 
fering is  intense.  Many  quack  cures  are  advertised. 
Some  are  definitely  pernicious;   for   instance,  the 


I20  CHANGING  CHINA 

morphia  syringe  has  become  a  common  article  for  sale 
in  some  parts  of  China.  Some  few  may  be  beneficial. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  movement  against  opium 
is  a  great  national  movement,  and  is  not  the  result 
of  the  action  of  any  small  or  fanatical  party.  What 
China  has  done  proves  that  this  is  so. 

Let  me  close  the  chapter  by  a  quotation  from  the 
ablest  of  the  foreign  representatives  at  Peking,  Sir 
John  Jordan.  Writing  to  Sir  Edward  Grey,  he 
says :  It  is  true  that  the  Chinese  Government 
have  in  recent  years  effected  some  far-reaching 
changes,  of  which  the  abolition  of  the  old  examina- 
tion system  is  perhaps  the  most  striking  instance; 
but  to  sweep  away  in  a  decade  habits  which  have 
been  the  growth  of  at  least  a  century,  and  which 
have  gained  a  firm  hold  upon  8,000,000  of  the  adult 
population  of  the  empire,  is  a  task  which  has,  I 
imagine,  been  rarely  attempted  with  success  in  the 
course  of  history  ;  and  the  attempt,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered, is  to  be  made  at  a  time  when  the  Central 
Government  has  largely  lost  the  power  to  impose  its 
will  upon  the  provinces.  The  authors  of  the  move- 
ment are,  however,  confident  of  success,  and  China 
will  deserve  and  doubtless  receive  much  sympathy 
in  any  serious  effort  she  may  make  to  stamp  out 
the  evil." 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  WOMEN'S  QUESTION 

The  desire  for  radical  change  is  never  so  much  to  be 
dreaded  as  when  it  attacks  the  home  life  of  a  nation. 
That  quiet  life  so  often  hidden  away  because  of  its 
very  sacredness  by  the  Eastern  races  is  like  every- 
thing else  in  China  disturbed  by  the  introduction  of 
Western  civilisation,  and  in  no  other  part  of  human 
life  will  its  two  diflPerent  sides  be  more  apparent. 
Western  civilisation  without  Christianity  will  destroy 
the  home  life  as  it  destroys  most  Eastern  things  it 
touches,  and  will  do  little  to  construct  a  new  life  to 
take  the  place  of  the  one  it  destroys.  The  Japanese 
complain  that  Western  civilisation  has  destroyed 
both  the  modesty  and  the  religion  of  their  women, 
and  Christianity  has  not  yet  been  able  to  any  great 
extent  to  reconstruct  on  the  basis  of  true  religion 
new  ideals  of  feminine  life.  Therefore  the  Chinese, 
with  all  their  enthusiasm  for  Western  culture,  are 
looking  a  little  nervously  at  what  they  see  has 
happened  in  Japan.  They  say  that  their  home  life 
is  not  now  unbeautiful ;  even  those  who  are  disposed 
to  admit  that  the  life  of  the  Western  woman  is  founded 
on  higher  ideals  than  their  own  will  not  allow  that 
their  national  home  life  deserves  unmixed  condemna- 


122  CHANGING  CHINA 

tion.  Everybody  agrees  that  the  wanton  destruction 
of  the  laws  which  govern  women's  life  in  China  may 
have  a  terrible  result  when  Western  civilisation  is 
unwisely  introduced,  especially  if  it  is  made  to  appear 
to  be  a  civilisation  without  rehgion.  The  missionaries 
see  in  this  crisis  the  necessity  for  vigorous  action; 
while  thankful  for  the  movement,  they  realise  the 
responsibility  it  puts  upon  Christians  to  see  that  that 
movement  is  wisely  directed.  In  the  memorial  from 
the  Centenary  Conference  at  Shanghai  in  1907  to 
the  Home  Churches,  they  say  : — 

"  The  changed  attitude  of  China  towards  female 
education  and  the  place  of  woman,  lays  upon  us  great 
responsibilities.  The  uplifting  of  woman  is  a  first 
need  in  the  moral  regeneration  of  a  people,  and  one 
of  the  things  in  which  Christianity  has  a  totally 
different  ideal  from  that  which  the  religions  of  China 
have  encouraged.  The  present  change  of  national 
sentiment  on  the  subject  is  one  of  the  indirect  but 
none  the  less  striking  changes  that  the  slow  but 
steady  dissemination  of  Christian  ideas  in  China 
during  the  past  century  has  led  to.  Let  it  be 
remembered,  however,  that  it  requires  the  Christian 
motive  power  to  make  it  successful  and  fruitful." 

It  is  somewhat  difficult  to  obtain  information  from 
the  Chinese  themselves  as  to  the  position  of  women. 
They  are  very  averse  to  discussing  the  subject ;  in 
fact,  it  is  not  even  regarded  as  good  manners  for 
a  man  to  ask  after  the  health  of  his  most  intimate 
friend's  wife ;  and  all  the  information  that  we  could 


THE  WOMEN'S  QUESTION  123 

get  had  for  the  most  part  to  be  obtained  by  Lady 
Florence  Cecil  through  feminine  sources.  We  may 
generally  state,  however,  that  the  position  of  women 
in  China  is  neither  so  low  as  that  which  they  occupy 
in  India  or  among  the  Mohammedans,  neither  is  it 
in  any  degree  so  high  as  the  position  of  women  in 
Western  lands.  The  woman  is  completely  subject 
to  the  man ;  till  she  marries  she  is  subject  to  her 
father,  when  she  is  married  she  is  subject  to  her 
husband,  and  if  her  husband  dies  she  is  then  subject 
to  her  son,  and  rarely  re-marries.  These  are  called 
the  three  obediences.  She  is  not  educated  as  a  rule, 
because  both  public  opinion  and  Chinese  philosophy 
regard  her  as  mentally  far  inferior  to  the  man.  We 
shall  explain  later  on  how  in  Chinese  thought  every- 
thing is  divided  into  a  good  and  an  evil  principle — 
a  Yang  and  a  Yin.  The  woman  is  distinctly  Yin. 
She  is  therefore  necessary  to  man,  but  at  the  same 
time  inferior. 

Again,  with  regard  to  the  question  of  polygamy, 
her  position  is  an  intermediate  one  between  the 
avowed  polygamy  of  Moslem  countries  and  the  ill- 
maintained  monogamy  of  many  a  Latin  country. 
In  Hong-Kong  the  position  was  explained  by  a 
Chinaman  to  me  thus :  that  when  a  woman  grew  old 
it  was  regarded  as  her  duty  to  provide  a  secondary 
wife  for  her  husband's  pleasure  and  as  a  companion 
for  herself — a  companion  with  a  sense  of  servitude  in 
it.  If  this  was  done  in  an  orderly  manner,  it  was 
absolutely  approved  by  Chinese  public  opinion.  If, 


124  CHANGING  CHINA 

on  the  other  hand,  the  husband,  ignoring  the  wife's 
rights,  should  choose  a  secondary  wife  for  himself  and 
set  her  up  in  another  house,  his  attitude  would  be 
regarded  as  distinctly  doubtful  by  the  respectable 
Chinese.  In  the  same  way  if  an  official  were  ap- 
pointed to  a  distant  post  he  would  probably  not 
think  of  imposing  upon  his  wife  with  her  deformed 
feet  the  pain  and  discomfort  of  a  long  journey ;  he 
would  most  likely  take  a  natural-footed  woman,  who 
will  be  for  that  reason  a  slave ;  in  fact,  one  gentleman 
went  so  far  as  to  say  that  he  thought  that  the 
squeezed  feet  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  this  in- 
stitution of  a  secondary  wife,  because  he  noted  that 
the  secondary  wives  of  all  the  officials  when  they 
were  travelling  were  natural-footed  women. 

The  secondary  wife  would  be  rarely  a  woman  of 
good  class ;  it  is  allowed  to  be  an  inferior  position. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  she  bears  her  husband  a  son, 
and  that  son  is  recognised,  all  that  son's  relations, 
and  therefore  all  his  mother's  relations,  become 
relations  of  the  father. 

The  curious  tangle  which  such  a  position  begets 
when  brought  into  contact  with  the  Christian  idea 
is  exemplified  in  this  story.  A  rich  Chinaman  had 
three  wives.  By  his  lawful  wife  he  had  nine  children  ; 
by  the  other  two  he  had  none ;  but  his  second  wife 
was  a  woman  of  very  strong  character,  and  she  was 
brought  in  touch  with  the  missionaries  by  the 
Chinese  wife  of  a  European.  She  apparently  ruled 
the  house  with  a  kindly  rule  to  which  all  the  others 


THE  WOMEN'S  QUESTION  125 

bowed.  She  did  everything  in  an  energetic  and 
vigorous  way,  and  she  studied  Christianity  till  she 
was  convinced  of  its  truth,  and  then  she  demanded 
baptism.  There  was  a  great  difficulty;  she  must 
leave  her  husband  before  she  could  be  baptized. 
After  considerable  delay  she  accepted  the  condition, 
but  resistance  came,  not  alone  from  the  man,  but 
from  the  other  two  wives.  They  could  not  possibly 
get  on  without  her ;  they  were  like  sisters ;  and  she 
must  be  allowed  to  return  to  the  house.  She  refused, 
though  the  pressure  was  extreme.  The  man  said  that 
he  had  promised  his  ancestors  that  none  of  his  children 
should  be  Christians,  and  that  his  own  mother  would 
not  forgive  him ;  but  the  woman  held  firm,  and  at 
last  she  was  baptized.  Her  face  was  beautiful  to 
behold  while  she  was  accepting  Christianity  and 
renouncing  all  that  made  life  sweet  to  her.  The 
husband  was  so  moved  by  her  fortitude  that  he 
signed  a  paper  promising  not  to  molest  her,  and  yet 
to  support  her  apart,  so  that  she  should  not  be  in 
any  need. 

At  the  Shanghai  Conference  there  were,  curious 
to  relate,  many  women  who  wished  the  Christian 
body  to  recognise  existing  polygamy  among  the 
Chinese.  A  sentence  of  the  resolution  proposed  was 
that  secondary  wives  may  be  admitted  to  member- 
ship if  obviously  true  Christians."  Mr.  Arnold  Foster 
resisted  the  inclusion  of  these  words,  and  they  were 
lost.  No  doubt  the  Conference  was  wise  in  taking 
this  line.    It  is  most  essential  to  maintain  the  purity 


126 


CHANGING  CHINA 


of  the  home  life,  and  the  difficulty  that  arises  from 
secondary  wives  desiring  to  join  the  Christian  Church 
can  never  be  a  very  important  one,  as  the  vast 
majority  of  Chinese  are  monogamous. 

A  serious  evil  this  custom  creates  is  that  of 
female  slavery.  Both  in  Japan  and  China  one  of 
the  awful  penalties  of  poverty  is  that  a  man  is 
sometimes  forced  to  sell  his  female  children.  These 
little  girls  are  bought  by  prudent  Chinamen,  first 
to  be  servants  to  their  own  wives  and  then  to  act 
as  secondary  wives  to  their  sons  to  prevent  them 
going  elsewhere.  Sometimes  they  are  kidnapped  by 
men  who  make  a  regular  business  of  this  cruel  traffic. 
Stories  are  told  of  boat-loads  of  these  children  being: 
brought  down  the  Yangtsze,  concealed  below  the 
deck  and  terrorised  to  keep  them  quiet  by  one  of 
their  number  being  killed  before  their  eyes.  On  one 
occasion  a  missionary  suddenly  saw  a  hand  thrust 
through  the  planks  of  the  deck,  and  on  investigation 
he  discovered  a  dozen  children  hidden  below,  and  as 
it  turned  out  they  had  been  kidnapped,  not  bought, 
he  was  able  to  get  them  released.  These  slaves  are 
the  absolute  property  of  their  owners,  and  many  are 
the  tales  told  of  the  cruel  and  neglectful  treatment 
to  which  they  are  subjected.  In  Shanghai  the 
Chinese  police  will  report  such  cases,  and  in  con- 
sequence the  ladies  of  the  settlement  have  founded 
an  admirable  institution  to  which  they  can  be  brought. 
The  Slave  Eefuge  deserves  all  support.  There  the 
little  girls  are  taught  and  cared  for,  and  helped  to 


THE  WOMEN'S  QUESTION  127 

forget  the  terrible  experiences  some  of  them  have 
gone  through.  Sad  to  relate,  many  of  them  have 
to  be  taken  first  to  the  hospital  to  be  cured  from 
the  effects  of  the  ill-treatment  they  have  received. 
One  poor  little  thing  went  into  convulsions  when  a 
fire  was  lit  in  the  ward  ;  it  was  difficult  to  under- 
stand the  reason,  but  when  it  happened  again  and 
the  poor  child  uttered  incoherent  appeals  for  mercy, 
it  was  discovered  that  she  thought  the  fire  was  lit 
to  heat  opium  needles  with  which  to  torture  her. 
Her  system  was  too  shattered  for  recovery,  but 
many  others  get  quite  well  and  form  a  pleasing  sight 
at  work  and  play  in  the  bright  cheerful  Refuge,  with 
the  happy  elasticity  of  youth  forgetting  the  injuries 
which  in  some  cases  have  left  on  them  permanent 
scars.  But  I  fear  the  system  of  slavery  continues 
very  commonly  all  over  China,  and  such  a  philan- 
thropic effort  as  the  Shanghai  Slave  Refuge  can  touch 
but  a  very  small  proportion  of  them.  Probably  when 
the  little  slaves  are  destined  to  be  wives  to  their 
mistresses'  sons  they  are  treated  less  cruelly,  and 
though  employed  as  household  drudges,  do  not  live 
actively  unhappy  lives. 

Without  stating  that  women  as  a  whole  are 
miserable,  I  think  it  would  be  no  exaggeration  to 
say  that  they  are  infinitely  less  happy  than  their 
Western  sisters.  Many  of  the  national  customs 
militate  against  their  happiness.  The  custom  of  child 
betrothal,  for  instance,  condemns  a  woman  to  live 
completely  subject  to  a  man  for  whom  she  perhaps 


128  CHANGING  CHINA 


has  the  greatest  natural  antipathy.  Stories  are 
told  of  brides  committing  suicide  rather  than 
leave  their  father's  house  to  be  married  to  men  for 
whom  they  feel  no  affection  ;  yet  as  a  whole  they 
accept  their  position,  and  a  Chinese  woman  has 
neither  the  will  nor  the  power  to  be  untrue  to  her 
husband. 

Again,  the  rule  of  the  husband's  mother  is  very 
often  extremely  harsh ;  the  child- wife  is  little  better 
than  her  drudge.  On  the  other  hand,  when  a 
woman  grows  older,  her  position  is  one  of  con- 
siderable strength.  I  was  assured  that  they 
take  a  keen  interest  in  the  management  of  their 
husbands'  properties,  and  often  show  themselves  ex- 
cellent business  women.  The  position  which  the 
late  Empress  of  China  acquired  shows  that  women's 
position  is  the  very  reverse  of  inferior  when  dignified 
by  age. 

And  now  before  all  this  woman's  world  glitters 
Western  civilisation ;  the  greater  dignity  which  is 
accorded  therein  to  women  is  envied  and  the  laws 
which  restrain  her  are  misunderstood.  The  Chinese 
women  hear  stories  of  Western  life.  At  first  such 
strange  perversions  are  believed  as  that  in  the  West 
women  rule.  One  missionary  explained  that  this 
absurd  figment  came  from  the  rule  of  the  late  Queen ; 
another  attributed  it  to  the  custom  men  have  when 
travelling  in  China  of  walking  while  their  wives 
remained  in  the  carrying  chair.  To  the  Chinaman 
such  a  course  admits  of  but  one  explanation :  the 


THE  WOMEN^S  QUESTION  129 

woman  must  be  greater  than  the  man  because  she  is 
carried  while  he  walks. 

Again,  in  Western  China  they  learnt  through 
their  local  press  that  girls  and  boys  received  a 
similar  education  in  England,  and  they  concluded  that 
the  dress  must  be  also  similar,  and  the  missionaries 
were  more  amused  than  scandalised  at  seeing  a 
Government  girls'  school  turned  out  in  boys'  clothes. 
It  was  explained  to  us  that  this  was  far  from  being 
an  uncommon  custom  in  China ;  slave-girls  who  have 
been  brought  up  with  natural  feet  are  habitually 
dressed  as  boys,  and  it  is  common  now  for  fathers 
of  small  daughters  with  unbound  feet  to  avoid  the 
unpleasant  taunts  of  the  ignorant  by  allowing  their 
daughters  while  they  are  children  to  wear  boys' 
clothes. 

Still  on  the  whole  the  desire  for  imitation  of  the 
West  has  been  very  beneficial  to  the  women  of  China, 
especially  in  this  matter  of  foot-binding.  This  dis- 
gusting custom  is  going  out  of  fashion  among  the 
enlightened  and  educated  classes ;  two  or  three 
Chinese  gentlemen  assured  us  that  this  was  so ; 
and  in  a  place  like  Shanghai,  where  the  Western 
movement  is  very  strong,  the  number  of  women  with 
unbound  feet  is  quite  remarkable  ;  the  greater  number 
of  them  naturally  have  had  their  feet  bound,  and  as 
feet  bound  from  infancy  never  become  quite  normal, 
they  still  have  something  of  the  tottering  walk  which 
used  to  be  the  admiration  of  every  Chinaman  ;  in  fact, 
this  tottering  walk  is  preserved  as  a  piece  of  aflfec- 

I 


130  CHANGING  CHINA 

tation.  A  lady  told  us  that  even  her  Christian  girls' 
school  was  not  above  such  a  feminine  weakness.  As 
they  walked  to  Church  they  would  step  out  with 
the  swinging  stride  that  regular  gymnastic  exer- 
cises and  a  most  comfortable  dress  have  encouraged ; 
suddenly  the  lady  would  see  the  whole  of  her  school 
struck  with  a  sort  of  paralysis  which  made  them 
exchange  their  easy  gait  for  the  "  tottering-lily  "  walk 
of  the  Chinese  small-footed  women.  The  cause  is 
that  the  boys'  school  has  just  come  into  sight.  I 
fear  it  must  be  admitted  that  foot-binding  con- 
tinues to  be  practised  in  the  interior  amongst  the 
poorer  women,  who  cling  to  the  custom  for  fear  of 
ridicule. 

The  most  beneficial  effect  of  the  admiration  of 
the  West  is  the  earnest  desire  that  it  has  given  to 
Chinese  women  for  education.  So  keen  is  this  desire 
that  even  married  women  will  become  children  again 
and  take  their  position  in  the  class.  Husbands  who 
have  received  Western  education  are  most  anxious 
that  their  wives  should  share  somewhat  in  their 
interests. 

Lady  Florence  could  see  over  girls'  schools  where 
a  man's  visit  would  not  have  been  acceptable,  so  she 
visited  many  of  all  varieties,  including  two  at  Peking 
of  a  rather  unusual  description.  One  of  them  was 
carried  on  by  a  Manchu  lady  of  high  position,  connected 
with  a  great  Manchu  prince.  Her  attitude  generally 
towards  the  forward  women's  movement  offends  her 
family,  as  she  lectures  publicly  on  topics  of  the  time. 


THE  WOMEN'S  QUESTION  131 

Her  school  is  small,  and,  alas,  not  very  efficient,  she 
having  fallen  into  the  usual  fallacy  amongst  the 
Chinese  of  believing  that  a  Japanese  instructress 
must  of  necessity  be  efficient.  Still  her  desire  to 
give  education  to  the  children  of  the  poor  is  worthy 
of  nothing  but  commendation.  She  looked  most 
impressive,  being  a  fine  big  handsome  woman,  attired 
in  the  Manchu  long  robe  with  the  ornate  Manchu 
head-dress.  The  second  school  my  wife  saw  was 
managed  by  another  Manchu  lady,  and  it  seemed  more 
orderly  and  more  successful  than  the  other.  These 
two  schools  testified  to  a  desire  to  improve  the  status 
of  women.  My  wife  visited  many  other  schools,  some 
belonging  to  missions  of  various  denominations,  which 
attracted  the  daughters  and  even  the  wives  of  upper- 
class  men,  who  mixed  quite  happily  with  girls  of 
lower  degree,  being  all  united  in  a  fervent  desire  for 
education,  the  ruling  desire  now  in  China  among 
women  of  all  classes. 

This  desire  for  education  is  a  great  opportunity  for 
the  missionaries,  and  they  appeal  most  eloquently  in  the 
message  from  which  we  have  already  quoted  for  help 
from  their  sisters  in  England.  "  We  need  more  schools 
for  girls  and  more  consecrated  and  highly  trained 
women  competent  to  conduct  such  schools  and  gradu- 
ally to  give  higher  and  higher  instruction  in  them. 
We  need  more  training  schools,  also,  for  Chinese 
women,  to  fit  them  to  work  among  their  sisters, 
and  we  need  educated  Christian  ladies  from  our 
homelands  for  Zenana  work  in  the  houses  of  the 


132  CHANGING  CHINA 

well-to-do.  Such  work  would  have  been  impossible 
a  few  years  ago ;  now  the  visits  of  such  workers 
would  in  many  cases  be  cordially  welcomed  by 
Chinese  ladies,  and  frequently  they  would  be  re- 
turned, for  the  seclusion  of  women  in  China  is 
not  at  all  as  strict  as  it  is  in  India.  This,  so  far, 
has  been  a  comparatively  unworked  sphere  of  use- 
fulness in  China,  but  it  is  one  full  of  promise  and  of 
gracious  opportunity  in  the  present." 

The  difficulty  of  education  is  in  one  way  increased 
and  in  another  way  decreased  by  the  ignorance  which 
many  women  have  of  reading  the  Chinese  characters. 
A  new  system  has  been  invented  by  which  Chinese 
can  be  written  in  our  letters  as  pronounced.  This  is 
called  by  the  rather  uncouth  name  of  Romanised." 
At  the  Shanghai  Conference  we  were  told  wonderful 
stories  of  the  incredibly  short  space  of  time  in  which 
women  learnt  to  read  by  this  system.  A  woman 
of  sixty-seven  learnt  in  two  months ;  while  one 
lady  asserted  that  she  had  taught  a  boy  to  read 
between  Friday  and  Wednesday,  I  may  add  inclusive. 
This  extraordinary  achievement  is  not  quite  so  im- 
possible as  it  would  be  with  our  more  complicated 
languages.  The  Chinese  have  extremely  few  sounds, 
and  their  language  is  monosyllabic  in  formation. 
However,  we  do  not  ask  our  readers  to  accept  this 
as  the  normal  rate  of  education ;  still  the  thing  is 
worth  mentioning,  because  it  is  possibly  the  beginning 
of  a  great  movement  which  may  alter  the  whole  of 
education  in  the  Far  East.    The  extreme  ease  with 


THE  WOMEN'S  QUESTION  133 

which  Chinese  can  be  written  in  our  letters  may 
induce  some  daring  spirit  to  advocate  it  as  a  system 
fitted  for  the  education  of  the  poor,  though  this  is  at 
present  quite  improbable. 

A  far  darker  side  to  the  introduction  of  Western 
ways  is  the  gradual  naturalisation  of  the  social  evils 
of  the  West.  Lady  Florence  had  the  privilege  of 
seeing  some  of  the  rescue  work  undertaken  by  devoted 
missionary  ladies  in  Shanghai.  Being  an  open  port, 
this  town,  in  common,  I  believe,  with  the  other  semi- 
Westernised  ports  in  China,  bears  a  very  bad  char- 
acter as  regards  purity  of  morals.  The  advent  of  the 
foreigner  has  done  nothing  but  harm  in  this  respect. 
Wonderful  and  horrible  though  it  may  seem,  the 
vice-mart  exists  in  the  ports  mainly  in  connection 
with  the  foreigners,  who  appear  to  have  shown  the 
way  to  the  Chinese.  There  is  a  street  in  Shanghai, 
the  Foochow  Road,  where  terrible  scandals  occur 
almost  openly ;  signs  whose  intention  is  veiled  to 
the  outsider  by  his  ignorance  of  Chinese  characters, 
boldly  advertise  the  merits  of  various  houses  and 
their  inmates.  Formerly  these  wretched  girls  were 
even  paraded  in  open  chairs,  but  this  has  been 
stopped,  though  they  are  still  carried  about  in  closed 
chairs.  The  scenes  in  this  street  as  night  falls  are 
a  sad  witness  to  the  ill  effect  of  Western  ideas  without 
Christianity.  It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  the 
victims  of  this  condition  of  things  are  literally 
victims.  They  have  no  choice  in  the  matter.  They 
are  sold  by  their  parents,  even  by  their  husbands, 


134  CHANGING  CHINA 

into  their  terrible  position  ;  and  though  some  may 
live  a  life  of  luxury,  most  of  them  are  cruelly 
treated,  beaten,  tortured  to  prevent  flight,  and,  as 
is  proved  by  their  subsequent  conduct,  they  regard 
the  life  with  absolute  loathing. 

Inspired  by  profound  pity  for  these  poor  creatures, 
these  excellent  ladies  started  a  Refuge  for  them  with 
a  receiving-house  in  the  very  midst  of  this  locality 
of  ill-fame.  To  this  haven  the  poor  things  often 
flee  even  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  facing 
the  unknown,  undeterred  by  rumours  of  the  evil 
intentions  of  the  foreigners  put  about  by  their 
owners,  rather  than  endure  longer  the  life  of  degra- 
dation and  misery  to  which  they  have  been  con- 
demned. The  missionaries  receive  them  and  pass 
them  on  to  the  Door  of  Hope,"  the  appropriately 
named  Refuge,  which  restores  them  to  hope  and  peace 
and  happiness.  There  were  to  be  seen  some  eighty 
young  women  living  a  hard-working  simple  life,  con- 
tented and  merry,  and  apparently  never  regretting 
for  one  moment  the  fine  clothes  and  lazy  luxury 
which  many  of  them  had  renounced.  The  ladies 
teach  them  useful  arts,  instruct  them  in  Christianity, 
and  fit  them  for  wives  to  Chinese  Christians  who 
will  be  good  to  them,  and,  understanding  well  that 
their  former  life  was  involuntary,  are  glad  to  have 
wives  with  a  modicum  of  education.  The  ladies  will 
allow  non-Christians  to  mate  with  non-Christians, 
if  of  good  character ;  but  they  will  not  permit  any 
of  their  rescued  flock  to  become  secondary  wivea 


THE  WOMEN  S  QUESTION  135 

Two  things  are  remarkable  in  this  work  of  almost 
divine  compassion — a  relapse  is  practically  unknown  ; 
and  it  is  the  Chinese  who  are  most  helpful  in  en- 
couraging it — more  so  than  foreigners  ;  the  Chinese 
often  themselves  suggest  the  "Door  of  Hope"  to 
these  girls,  and  help  in  police  cases  to  save  them 
from  their  brutal  owners. 

The  risk  that  China  runs  at  this  moment  in  the 
home-life  is  the  same  as  the  risk  that  she  is  running 
in  every  other  department  of  her  national  existence. 
If  the  materialist  side  of  Western  civilisation  is  the 
one  that  is  the  most  apparent,  it  is  scarcely  possible 
that  it  will  fail  to  do  great  damage  to  her  home-life. 
A  thoughtful  Chinaman,  talking  about  the  whole  ques- 
tion, argued  in  favour  of  a  complete  acceptance  of 
Western  ideas.  He  was  afraid  of  a  half  measure. 
He  said  that  there  was  no  question  that  women  in 
the  West  are  restrained  by  a  mass  of  conventions  of 
whose  value  they  are  perhaps  unconscious,  but  which 
are  very  apparent  to  those  who  have  been  brought 
up  in  a  different  civilisation.  It  is  the  existence  of 
these  conventions  that  makes  their  liberty  possible. 
If  the  Chinese  are  to  accept  Western  civilisation  for 
their  women,  and  he  regarded  this  as  inevitable,  they 
must  learn  the  conventions ;  and  therefore  his  solu- 
tion to  the  problem  was  that  Chinese  girls  should  be 
brought  to  England  and  brought  up  as  English  girls. 

But  many  missionaries  plead  for  the  opposite 
policy.  They  say :  *'  Let  us  preserve  what  is  good 
in  the  Chinese  home-life,  let  Christianity  permeate 


136  CHANGING  CHINA 

that  life  and  make  it  beautiful,  but  do  not  destroy 
it.  The  Chinese  home-life  fits  the  Chinese  race.  The 
Westernised  Chinawoman  will  combine  the  errors  of 
both  civilisations  and  the  virtues  of  neither." 

Without  giving  an  opinion  on  this  very  vexed 
question,  we  may  express  a  hope  that  a  policy  of 
prudence  and  moderation  will  govern  the  action  of 
those  who  are  concerned  with  women's  education,  for 
the  degree  of  alteration  which  may  be  necessary  in 
women's  life  to  make  them  fitted  to  receive  Western 
civilisation  will  be  a  matter  rather  of  experiment 
than  of  theory.  At  any  rate  let  Christianity  precede 
any  large  alterations,  for  Christianity  alone  can  make 
the  life  of  a  Western  woman  intelligible  and  con- 
sistent to  her  Eastern  sister. 


CHAPTER  XI 


CHINESE  ARCHITECTURE 

Among  the  many  ways  a  nation  has  of  expressing  its 
thoughts  and  of  showing  its  individuality,  none  is 
more  valuable  to  mankind  in  general  than  its  art. 

Perhaps  it  can  be  said  that  every  civilised  nation 
has  contributed  to  the  common  stock  of  art,  and 
certainly  China  has  done  her  share.  The  porcelain 
which  is  called  after  her  name  testifies  to  her  pre- 
eminence in  ceramic  art,  and  should  make  Westerns 
cautious  in  expressing  their  contempt  for  a  race  which 
is  generally  acknowledged  to  be  the  originator  of 
this  industry.  I  will  not  attempt  to  express  an 
opinion  about  the  mysteries  of  this  art,  except  to 
regret  that  the  name  of  the  country  should  be  so 
attached  to  this  product  of  her  skill  as  constantly  to 
cause  confusion.  When  my  friend  Archdeacon  Moule 
published  his  interesting  book  on  New  China  and 
Old,"  a  lady  wrote  to  him  to  say  that  she  did  not 
care  for  new  china,  but  as  she  was  a  collector  of  old 
china,  she  would  much  like  to  read  his  book. 

China  has  contributed  to  other  forms  of  art  as 
well.  Her  embroideries  and  her  lacquer  work  are 
well  known ;  her  ivory  carving  and  silver  work  have 
found  a  place  in  every  collection.    Her  art,  as  we 

137 


138  CHANGING  CHINA 

might  expect  from  a  race  which  has  been  under  arti- 
ficial conditions  of  civilisation  for  many  years,  is  dis- 
tinctly artificial.  In  it  you  can  see  the  spirit  of  a 
race  who  for  many  centuries  have  been  taught  to 
control  themselves  and  to  avoid  the  natural  expression 
of  their  feelings.  If  it  is  artificial  in  form,  it  is  pleas- 
ing in  colour  and  superb  in  workmanship.  There  are 
few  who  will  not  agree  that  every  efibrt  should  be 
made  to  preserve  these  arts  from  being  injured  by  a 
false  admiration  of  Western  models.  The  only  possible 
exception  being  modern  embroideries,  which  might 
be  considerably  improved  if  more  harmonious  colours 
were  blended  together. 

China  excels  in  another  art,  though  her  excellence 
is  not  admitted  either  by  the  foreign  resident  or  even 
by  the  native  student.  In  certain  forms  of  archi- 
tecture she  is  unequalled.  Yet  when  the  Westerner 
comes  to  China  he  glories  in  bringing  with  him 
Western  architecture,  indifferent  as  to  whether  it  is 
suited  to  the  climatic  conditions  or  is  in  itself  beau- 
tiful. Take,  for  instance,  the  English  churches  of 
China.  Could  any  form  of  architecture  be  less  suited 
to  a  country  like  China,  where  the  sun  is  frequently 
oppressively  hot,  than  Gothic  architecture  ?  The 
large  windows,  the  pointed  arch,  and  the  weak,  open, 
high-pitched  roof  may  be  suitable  in  a  country  like 
ours  which  has  little  sunlight,  and  where  a  wet 
drifting  snow  will  often  force  an  entrance  into  the 
best-designed  roof ;  but  in  a  country  like  China, 
where  the  sun  is  the  chief  diflSculty,  some  construe- 


CHINESE  ARCHITECTURE  139 

tion  should  be  preferred  which  renders  a  heavy  and 
heat-proof  roof  possible.  If  antipathy  to  the  Chinese 
necessitated  a  Western  type  of  building,  Italian  or 
even  Romanesque  architecture  might  be  selected,  and  a 
building  with  a  massive  roof  supported  on  solid  arches 
might  resist  the  rays  of  the  sun.  But  why  not  accept 
the  Chinese  architecture  as  eminently  fitted  for  the 
climate  ? 

If  Christianity  is  to  be  assimilated  by  China  and 
become  part  of  their  national  existence,  the  build- 
ings in  which  it  is  proclaimed  should  be  essentially 
national.  The  intention  of  the  Christian  should  be 
written  clearly  on  the  face  of  every  landscape  where 
the  new  and  beautiful  Chinese  building  rises  up  for 
the  religion  which  is,  as  we  maintain,  as  essentially 
fitted  for  the  Chinese  as  it  is  for  the  English.  We 
do  not  worship  in  a  Roman  basilica,  but  in  the 
buildings  that  the  northern  architects  have  devised 
as  suitable,  both  for  Christian  worship  and  for  our 
climate.  The  new  Chinese  churches  need  not  be 
replicas  of  the  Chinese  temples ;  the  object  of  the 
building  is  different,  therefore  the  building  should 
differ,  but  there  are  many  other  forms  in  which  it 
is  possible  for  the  architect  to  express  in  Chinese 
architecture  the  eternal  truths  of  Christianity. 

Again,  why  are  all  the  schools  and  colleges  erected 
on  Western  patterns.  The  Chinese  are  used  to  and 
prefer  their  own  architecture,  and  from  a  sanitary 
point  of  view  I  hardly  think  it  is  inferior.  The 
average  Westerner  in  China  has  but  one  idea,  and 


I40  CHANGING  CHINA 

that  is  that  the  Chinese  must  become  Uke  a  Western 
nation  or  must  remain  untouched  by  Western  civilisa- 
tion. He  absolutely  refuses  the  suggestion  that  the 
architecture  of  China  can  be  altered  to  suit  modern 
conditions. 

It  is  said  that  the  thoughts  of  all  nations  are 
written  in  their  architecture ;  that  you  can  see  the 
nobility  of  the  Middle  Ages  in  the  Gothic  cathedral, 
or  the  fulness  of  the  thought  of  the  Renaissance 
in  the  Palladian  facade ;  certainly  on  the  modern 
Chinese  town  the  story  of  their  change  of  thought 
is  being  rapidly  written,  perhaps  with  truth,  but 
certainly  not  with  beauty.  The  Western  man 
absolutely  despising  all  things  Chinese  refuses  to 
erect  any  building  which  preserves  even  a  detail 
of  the  national  architecture  ;  the  Westernising  China- 
man in  faithful  imitation  erects  Western  buildings, 
but  with  this  difference ;  whereas  the  buildings  of 
the  Western  have  some  beauty — for  instance,  the 
cathedral  at  Shanghai  is  a  noble  building  and 
the  Pe-T'ang  at  Peking  would  not  disgrace  an 
Italian  town,  even  the  bankers'  palaces  at  Hankow 
are  not  unworthy  dwellings  for  merchant  princes — 
the  Chinese  imitations  of  these  Western  buildings 
have  but  little  beauty  to  commend  them,  and  as 
far  as  I  could  understand  they  are  really  less 
serviceable  than  a  true  Chinese  building. 

No  European  resident  in  China  will  ever  allow 
that  Chinese  buildings  are  either  beautiful  or  useful, 
and  if  any  one  suggests  that  a  Western  house  shall 


CHINESE  ARCHITECTURE  141 

be  built  in  the  Chinese  style  the  suggestion  is  scouted 
as  absurd ;  yet  the  British  Legation  at  Peking  is  an 
old  Chinese  palace,  and  no  one  who  has  seen  it  ever 
doubts  that  it  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  build- 
ings in  the  whole  of  China,  and  if  this  building  has 
been  found  fitting  for  His  Majesty's  Representative, 
surely  some  such  building  might  serve  for  others 
of  less  high  station. 

As  to  the  spiritual  ideals  in  Chinese  architecture, 
who  can  doubt  them  when  they  look  at  some  of  the 
pagodas  that  the  reverence  of  Buddhism  has  pro- 
duced. These  pagodas  tell  in  every  line  of  a  nation 
that  would  reach  up  above  mere  utilitarianism  to 
higher  thoughts.  The  uselessness  of  the  pagoda 
which  so  often  annoys  the  practical  Englishman  is 
one  of  its  chief  merits.  It  stands  there  in  all  its 
beauty  pleading  with  mankind  for  a  love  of  beauty 
for  its  own  sake  and  a  belief  in  a  beautiful  spirit 
world.  The  whole  of  Buddhist  thought  is  intimately 
connected  with  the  love  of  beauty.  When  a  Chinese 
gentleman  was  asked  if  the  Chinese  had  any  love 
of  beauty,  he  said :  "  You  will  notice  that  their 
temples  are  always  built  in  beautiful  spots,  so  that 
they  who  worship  in  them  should  satisfy  their  love 
of  beauty." 

Even  if  the  pagoda  is  merely  regarded  as  a  thing 
to  bring  luck  to  a  town,  it  still  merits  admiration, 
for  there  must  be  something  fine  in  a  race  that 
believes  a  beautiful  thing  can  bring  the  blessing 
of  the  heavenly  bodies  on  the  earth.    No  one  can 


142  CHANGING  CHINA 

study  the  details  of  any  of  these  pagodas  without 
being  confident  that  those  who  erected  them  had 
as  their  main  object  the  erection  of  a  beautiful 
building. 

Or  again,  take  the  Temple  of  Heaven.  Is  there 
any  monument  in  the  whole  world  that  has  more 
feeling  of  beauty  about  it.  The  white  altar  lying 
uncovered  testifies  to  the  fundamental  faith  of  the 
Chinese  that  there  is  a  God  in  heaven  who  dwelleth 
not  in  temples  made  with  hands,  while  the  detail 
of  the  carving,  though  showing  a  certain  sameness, 
yet  indicates  their  belief  that  God  must  love  beauty. 
To  see  the  white  Altar  of  Heaven  together  with 
the  blue-roofed  Temple  beyond  on  some  sunny  day 
when  the  flowers  are  blooming  and  the  dark  green 
of  the  pine  grove  is  in  strong  contrast  with  the 
light  green  of  the  spring  herbage,  is  one  of  those 
visions  of  beauty  which  make  a  man  dream  and 
dream  again  of  the  noble  future  that  may  be  before 
a  race  which  has  its  holiest  places  in  such  lovely 
surroundings. 

As  most  of  the  readers  of  this  book  may  never 
have  seen  a  Chinese  building,  perhaps  it  should  be 
described.  The  architecture  of  the  Chinese  differs 
from  that  of  the  West  in  almost  every  detail.  A 
Chinese  town  is  a  town  without  chimneys,  and  yet 
the  absence  of  those  chimneys  which  Renaissance 
architects  made  such  a  feature  of  domestic  architec- 
ture is  never  missed,  for  Chinese  roofs  are  curved 
and  decorated  with  quaint  figures ;  they  are  often 


CHINESE  ARCHITECTURE  143 

coloured,  bright  yellow  if  the  building  is  an  imperial 
building,  or  bright  blue  or  blue  and  green  with  yellow 
lines,  as  taste  may  direct.  Common  houses  have  not 
such  ornate  roofs,  but  I  am  speaking  of  the  houses 
which  have  some  claim  to  architectural  excellence. 
This  great  roof  is  carried  directly  on  pillars,  so  that  it 
is  possible  to  have  a  Chinese  house  without  walls, 
and  these  wall-less  houses  are  most  suitable  to  a 
country  where  the  summer  is  hot.  The  massive 
character  of  the  roof  prevents  the  heat  of  the  sun 
penetrating,  and  the  absence  of  walls  allows  of  a 
free  current  of  air ;  if  there  are  walls  they  are  gene- 
rally wooden  screens  filled  in  with  paper,  and  the 
effect  in  some  old  Chinese  houses  is  very  lovely. 

For  winter  weather  these  houses  seem  cold  to  us, 
but  the  Chinese  have  always  believed  in  the  open- 
air  policy.  They  never  heat  their  houses ;  they  rely 
either  on  warm  clothing  or  on  a  flue- heated  bed  at 
night ;  and  as  they  are  as  a  race  very  subject  to 
consumption,  probably  this  policy  is  one  which  is 
best  suited  to  their  constitutions.  At  any  rate  it 
seems  strange  that  while  we  in  England  are  advo- 
cating open-air  schools,  open-air  cures,  and  sleeping 
with  the  window  open,  in  China  Western  influence 
should  be  destroying  the  admiration  for  a  splendid 
form  of  architecture,  the  characteristic  of  which  was 
that  while  it  was  of  great  beauty,  it  also  shielded 
the  inmates  from  the  intense  heat  of  summer  and 
gave  them  ample  fresh  air. 

When  some  Chinese    literati  were  questioned 


144  CHANGING  CHINA 


about  this  architecture  they  freely  confessed  that 
they  preferred  their  native  buildings,  but  they 
seemed  to  think  that  a  Western  school  could  not 
be  efficient  unless  it  was  held  in  a  Western  build- 
ing. Missionaries  and  others  being  questioned  on  this 
point  maintained  that  Western  houses  were  in  the 
end  the  cheapest,  but  the  Chinese  would  not  allow 
this.  They  said  that  a  Chinese  house  would  cost  far 
more  than  a  Western  house  if  it  were  beautifully 
adorned  with  carving,  but  if  it  was  built  simply  it 
would  work  out  at  less  cost. 

Chinese  architecture  is  obviously  a  construction 
which  lends  itself  to  the  use  of  iron.  A  Chinese 
building  with  iron  substituted  for  wood  would  look 
as  well,  for  they  always  paint  their  wood ;  this 
ought  to  be  a  very  cheap  form  of  construction  in  a 
land  which  is  going  to  produce  iron  at  a  very  low 
rate.  The  truth  is  that  it  is  neither  a  question  of 
cost  nor  of  efficiency  which  makes  the  Chinese  archi- 
tecture despised ;  it  is  part  of  the  great  movement 
which  expresses  itself  in  stone  and  brick — a  move- 
ment which  is  tending  to  bring  the  Eastern  countries 
into  misery — a  movement  which  is  planting  in  the 
East  all  that  is  commonplace,  all  that  is  hideous  in 
the  West,  and  that  is  destroying  all  that  is  beautiful 
in  the  East  both  in  thought  and  colour  and  form. 
It  is  the  counterpart  of  the  movement  which  is 
destroying  the  faith  of  the  Eastern  nations  and  is 
only  substituting  the  materialism  which  has  degraded 
the  West. 


RELIGIONS  OF  CHINA  AND  THE 
MISSIONARY 


CHAPTER  XII 


RELIGIONS  IN  CHINA 

The  real  power  of  a  race  lies  in  its  religion ;  other 
motives  inevitably  tend  to  egotism,  disorganisation, 
and  national  death,  and  China  is  no  exception  to 
the  rule ;  the  strength  and  the  weakness  of  China 
lies  in  her  religion  and  in  its  absence.  There  are 
few  nations  who  set  less  store  by  the  outward  observ- 
ance of  religion  and  yet  there  are  few  nations  with  a 
greater  belief  in  the  supernatural.  On  the  one  hand, 
the  temples  are  deserted  or  turned  into  schools,  and 
the  Chinese  are  believed  to  have  no  other  motives 
than  self-interest.  On  the  other  hand,  the  whole  of 
Chinese  life  turns  round  the  relation  of  man  to  the 
spirit  of  his  ancestors  and  to  the  spiritual  world, 
and  the  Chinaman  obviously  believes  that  a  man  s 
soul  is  immortal  and  that  its  welfare  has  the  very 
closest  connection  with  the  welfare  of  his  descendant. 

The  commercial  man  will  tell  you  that  the 
Chinese  are  materialists — people  who  have  no  faith ; 
and  yet  with  glorious  inconsistency  he  will  explain 
that  the  difficulty  of  using  Chinese  labour  abroad 
is  that  even  the  commonest  coolie  demands  that 
his  body  shall  be  repatriated  and  shall  lie  in  some 
place  which  will  not  hinder  his  son  doinej  filial 


148  CHANGING  CHINA 


worship  to  his  spirit.  The  whole  question  of  what 
the  race  believes  is  rendered  more  difl&cult  of  com- 
prehension to  a  Westerner  by  the  confused  nature 
of  that  belief,  and  is  complicated  by  the  charac- 
teristic of  the  Chinese  of  mixing  all  religions  together 
regardless  of  their  natural  incongruity.  It  is  hoped 
that  the  reader  will  bear  this  in  mind  during  the 
following  explanation. 

The  religions  of  China  are  usually  classed  as 
three.  Not  three  well-marked  religions  in  our  sense 
of  the  word,  but  three  elements  which  tend  to  merge 
into  a  common  religion.  There  are  separate  religions. 
A  large  number  of  Chinese,  for  instance,  are  Moham- 
medan, and  they  neither  marry  nor  are  given  in 
marriage  to  the  other  Chinese ;  there  is  a  very 
small  J ewish  community ;  and  there  is  also  a  native 
Greek  Christian  village  still  tolerated  by  the  Chinese, 
which  was  transplanted  from  Siberia  as  the  result  of 
a  Chinese  conquest  in  the  days  of  Peter  the  Great ; 
there  are  a  quarter  of  a  million  Christians  converted 
by  non- Roman  missions,  besides  a  million  belonging  to 
the  Roman  Catholic  Communion.  But  Christianity, 
Judaism,  and  Mohammedanism  put  all  together,  form 
but  a  small  part  of  the  Chinese  community,  and 
the  greater  part  of  China  believes,  according  to  all 
orthodox  expositors,  in  three  religions — Buddhism, 
Taoism,  and  what  is  termed  Confucianism. 

This  conglomerate  of  three  religions  consists  in 
its  turn  of  composite  faiths.  Buddhism  in  China  is 
not  like  the  Buddhism  of  Ceylon  with  its  agnostic 


RELIGIONS  IN  CHINA  149 


teaching.  Buddhism  is  divided  into  two  great 
divisions — the  "greater  vehicle"  and  the  "lesser 
vehicle/'  The  "lesser  vehicle"  is  known  to  the 
world  as  pure  Buddhism;  the  "greater  vehicle" 
contains  many  sects,  all  of  which  claim  that  the 
revelation  extended  to  Gautama  was  only  a  partial 
revelation,  and  that  the  truth  has  been  more  fully 
revealed  to  those  who  succeeded  him.  This  is  called 
Lamaism,  and  in  China  has  incorporated  much  of  the 
idolatry  which  it  supplanted  and  perhaps  some  of  the 
Nestorian  Christianity  which  succeeded  it ;  in  fact, 
the  Buddhist  temple  in  China  is  nothing  more  than 
an  idol  temple.  Buddha  or  Gautama  is  always  the 
principal  idol ;  he  is  represented  calm  and  without 
thought  or  trouble ;  he  sits,  the  embodiment  of 
peace  and  rest ;  but  though  he  may  be  the  first  in 
the  Buddhist  temple,  he  is  far  from  being  alone ; 
close  behind  him  in  popular  estimation  come  two 
other  deities,  Amita  and  Kwannin.  Amita,  Amitobha 
or  0-mi-to,  is  held  by  some  to  be  the  father  of 
Kwannin,  and  is  at  once  a  guardian  of  the  Western 
Paradise  and  the  personification  of  purity ;  to  this 
wholly  mythical  personage  is  attributed  such  virtue 
that  the  mere  repetition  of  his  name  will  secure 
salvation.  In  Japan  a  sect  holds  that  every  Bud- 
dhist law  can  be  broken  with  immunity  as  long 
as  there  is  faith  in  Amita.  In  China  such  state- 
ments are  made  as  this :  to  follow  the  strict  law 
of  Buddhism  is  to  climb  to  heaven  as  a  fly  crawls 
up  the  wall,  but  to  attain  salvation  by  repeating 


I50  CHANGING  CHINA 

the  name  0-mi-to  is  like  sailing  heavenwards  in  a 
boat  with  wind  and  tide  behind,  at  the  pace  of  a 
hundred  li  an  hour.  There  is  a  general  agreement 
that  adherence  to  the  strict  Buddhist  law  of  chastity, 
honesty,  truth,  temperance,  abstinence  from  anger 
and  serenity  of  mind,  is  an  ideal  which  is  impossible 
at  any  rate  for  the  laity.  But  the  exact  method  of 
escaping  this  burden  differs  in  various  sects.  The 
most  popular  is  by  a  "  saving  faith  "  in  Amita. 

If  the  origin  of  this  deity  can  be  attributed  to 
the  personification  of  a  spirit  of  purity,  the  origin 
of  the  next,  Kwannin,  is  probably  from  some  source 
outside  Buddhism.  She  is  the  goddess  of  mercy,  but 
whatever  her  origin,  she  at  present  represents  the 
remnants  of  either  the  Nestorian  or  the  mediaeval 
Roman  teaching.  In  Peking  they  have  a  curious 
image  of  her  which  any  one  might  mistake  for  a 
Madonna,  the  truth  being  that  there  was  at  one 
time  an  intimate  contact  between  Christianity  and 
Buddhism,  when  many  of  the  externals  of  the 
Christian  religion  and  some  of  its  doctrines  were 
transplanted.  The  Buddhist  temple  with  its  altar 
in  the  centre  looks  strangely  like  a  Christian  church, 
and  the  Buddhist  monks  and  nuns,  with  their 
rosaries  and  their  regular  hours  for  chanting  and 
service,  recall  the  Roman  Catholic  services ;  the 
picture  of  the  Buddhist  hell  which  stands  in  the 
great  Mongol  temple  at  Peking  reminds  one  of  a 
scene  from  Dante's  Inferno,  and  among  the  many 
things  the  Buddhists  borrow  from  Christian  sources 


RELIGIONS  IN  CHINA  151 

are  these  two  ideas,  embodied  in  two  idols,  the 
goddess  of  mercy  who  intercedes  for  mankind,  and 
the  god  of  faith  in  whom  the  worshipper  should 
put  all  trust  and  confidence.  Besides  these  gods 
there  are  the  god  of  war  and  the  god  of  good- 
fellowship,  probably  taken  from  old  heathen  sources. 
Again,  there  are  hundreds  of  Buddhas,  or  as  we 
should  call  them,  "  saints,"  whose  position  is  some- 
where between  human  and  divine,  much  the  same 
position  that  the  saints  occupy  in  the  mind  of  a 
Neapolitan  peasant. 

After  Buddhism  comes  Taoism.  Taoism  is  again 
a  conglomerate  faith.  Technically  it  is  the  faith  of 
Laotze,  who  was  an  opponent  and  a  contemporary  of 
Confucius.  He  taught  a  dualism  which  reminds  the 
Westerner  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Manichees.  Again, 
Western  and  Eastern  thought  have  been  confused ; 
Manichees  are  known  to  have  existed  in  China,  and 
whether  Manichaeism  originally  came  from  the  East 
or  whether  subsequently  Chinese  thought  has  been 
affected  by  Manichseism  is  hard  to  decide.  At  any 
rate,  Laotze  did  not  claim  that  his  teaching  was 
original ;  he  was  merely  the  prophet  of  an  established 
school  of  thought.  The  greater  part  of  China  follows 
his  rival  and  despises  Laotze's  teaching,  yet  the 
dualism  that  he  taught  is  part  of  the  essential  faith 
of  China,  and  a  part  which  is  most  opposed  to  all 
that  is  good.  He  taught  that  good  and  evil  were 
essentially  divided,  were  halves,  as  it  were,  of  one 
whole.    He  called  them  the  "  Yang  "  and  the    Yin '  — 


152  CHANGING  CHINA 

terms  which  are  in  no  way  confined  to  the  few  dis- 
ciples who  now  follow  him.  This  division  between 
good  and  evil  makes  up  the  mystery  of  the  world — 
light  and  darkness,  heaven  and  earth,  male  and 
female,  each  couple  makes  up  one  whole  divided 
between  good  and  evil ;  and  so  the  world  beyond  is 
peopled  with  good  and  evil  spirits,  the  Yang"  and 
the  "  Yin."  Obviously  such  a  faith  has  all  the  evil 
which  we  recognise  in  Manichaeism,  and  its  practical 
disadvantages  are  very  great.  For  instance,  the  in- 
ferior position  of  women  is  defended  as  inevitable ; 
they  are  "  Yin."  No  mine  must  be  sunk  or  cutting 
made  for  fear  of  angering  the  earth  spirits,  for  as  man 
is  as  essentially  a  part  of  the  world  as  the  earth, 
those  earth  spirits  will  avenge  themselves  upon  him. 
Even  such  great  men  and  such  good  Confucianists 
as  His  Excellency  the  late  Chang-Chih-Tung  are  not 
insensitive  to  such  a  superstition.  The  town  over 
which  he  ruled  was  divided  by  a  steep  gravel  hill.  A 
Western  engineer  recommended  that  this  hill  should 
be  cut  through  to  facilitate  access  from  one  part  of 
the  town  to  the  other,  and  the  Viceroy,  ever  ready  to 
accept  new  and  Western  ideas  of  practical  advantage, 
immediately  ordered  the  suggestion  to  be  carried  out. 
Shortly  afterwards  a  large  wen  developed  on  his  neck, 
and,  arguing  that  an  evil  spirit  of  the  earth,  who  had 
originally  made  the  gravel  hill,  was  so  angered  at  the 
destruction  of  it  that  he  determined  to  re-make  it  on 
the  neck  of  the  offender,  the  Governor  had  the  cutting 
filled  up,  and  there  it  stands  to  this  very  day,  a 


RELIGIONS  IN  CHINA  153 

witness  of  the  evil  influence  that  an  evil  religion  can 
have  on  the  greatest  men  of  a  nation.  Taoism  has 
now  but  few  adherents,  and  yet  there  are  many 
Taoist  priests,  since  these  priests  are  regarded  as 
particularly  efficient  in  dealing  with  the  evil  spirits 
in  whom  Taoism  believes  so  fully. 

The  third  religion  is  generally  called  Confucianism, 
and  this  may  easily  lead  to  a  great  misunderstanding, 
for  under  the  term  Confucianism  two  very  different 
things  are  included.  First,  a  belief  in  the  philosophy 
of  Confucius.  This  for  the  most  part  is  outside  what 
we  are  accustomed  to  call  religion,  and  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  deal  with  it  later  on.  Secondly,  and  more 
commonly,  the  spiritual  beliefs  of  those  who  call  them- 
selves Confucians,  and  who,  owing  to  his  silence  on 
religion,  have  to  find  other  authorities  for  their  faith. 
Sometimes  they  claim  that  their  faith  was  the  same 
as  the  faith  of  Confucius,  that  the  background  of  his 
philosophy  was  the  religion  that  they  believe,  but 
more  commonly  they  accept  it  without  any  ques- 
tion. This  religion  is  commonly  mixed  up  both  with 
Buddhism  and  with  Taoism,  but  its  essential  doctrine 
is  very  distinct  and  has  great  weight  in  China, 
namely,  that  the  spirits  of  men  who  are  dead  live 
and  have  influence  over  the  lives  of  their  descendants. 
I  was  told  by  a  Chinese  Christian  that  a  religious 
Chinaman  of  the  lower  class  never  goes  out  without 
burning  a  stick  of  incense  to  the  tablet  of  his  father, 
and  no  one  can  go  through  Chinese  towns  without 
being  hnpressed  by  the  number  of  people  who  in  that 


154  CHANGING  CHINA 

poor  country  are  kept  hard  at  work  manufacturing 
mock  money  to  be  burnt  for  the  use  of  parents  and 
ancestors. 

The  missionaries  find  that  this  doctrine  is  the 
hardest  doctrine  for  Christianity  to  assail ;  and  there 
are  not  a  few  who,  despairing  of  success,  suggest  that 
the  position  must  be  turned,  and  ancestor  worship 
must  be  Christianised  and  accepted  as  an  essential 
part  of  a  man's  belief.  The  logical  Western  mind 
immediately  wants  to  know  what  is  behind  the 
ancestor ;  if  an  ancestor  is  to  have  power  he  can 
only  have  it,  says  the  logical  Westerner,  by  being 
in  contact  with  some  higher  power.  One  of  the 
greatest  missionaries  that  China  possesses  answers 
this  difficulty  by  saying  that  the  Chinese  mind  is 
not  the  Western  mind ;  that  he  does  not  concern 
himself  very  much  with  remote  speculation ;  he  has 
not  that  itching  longing  to  use  the  word  "  why,'* 
which  is  at  once  the  glory  and  the  difficulty  of  the 
Western  mind,  and  therefore  he  looks  at  the  spiritual 
world  much  as  he  looks  at  the  earthly  world  ;  the 
man  immediately  over  him  in  the  town  is  the  magis- 
trate, and,  to  use  the  Chinese  phrase,  "  is  the  father 
and  mother  of  his  people,"  and  so  over  him  in  spiritual 
things  is  his  father  and  grandfather.  Behind  the 
magistrate  there  is  in  his  distant  thought  the  prefect 
— the  head  of  the  prefecture  or  Fu  town — a  being 
who  only  comes  into  his  village  life  when  there  is 
trouble  and  difficulty  ;  he  comes  to  punish,  rarely  to 
reward,  and  so  behind  his  father  and  grandfather  in 


RELIGIONS  IN  CHINA  155 

the  spiritual  world  are  the  great  clan  leaders  whom 
he  worships  at  regular  intervals  with  the  rest  of  his 
clan.  In  civil  government  there  are  in  a  distant 
background  a  Viceroy  with  awful  powers  and  awful 
majesty,  and  an  Emperor  whose  very  name  is  so 
divine  that  he  scarcely  likes  to  use  it ;  and  behind 
the  clan  leaders  are  many  beings  borrowed  from 
Buddhism,  relics  of  old  idolatry,  muddled  up 
with  Taoism ;  and  in  the  dim  and  distant  back- 
ground is  the  Supreme  Being— the  Supreme  Being 
Who  rewards  the  just  and  punishes  the  unjust,  Who 
can  in  no  way  be  deceived,  Who  refuses  the  rain  to 
the  sinner  and  makes  the  land  desolate,  Who  has 
power  to  dethrone  the  earthly  Emperor  and  to  place 
China  under  a  foreign  domination.  This  great  and 
awful  power  is,  however,  so  far  distant  that  the 
average  Chinaman  thinks  but  little  about  Him. 

The  Temple  of  Heaven  at  Peking  is  the  beautiful 
shrine  of  this  Supreme  Being.  Here  once  a  year, 
after  spending  a  night  fasting,  the  Emperor,  as  the 
father  of  his  nation,  worships  the  great  God  who 
made  heaven  and  earth.  The  chief  feature  of  this 
worship  is  that  it  is  performed  in  the  open  air  on 
a  beautiful  marble  dais.  No  place  in  China  is  quite 
so  lovely ;  it  is  the  fitting  shrine  of  the  beautiful 
faith  of  China's  most  glorious  days,  a  faith  which 
though  dormant  is  not  dead.  The  traveller  who 
stands  there  should  remember  that  the  worship 
which  is  here  performed  is  as  old  as  the  date  of 
the  patriarchs  and  not  un-akin  to  their  religious 


156  CHANGING  CHINA 

ideals ;  and  if  there  are  some  things  which  are  not 
sympathetic  to  the  Christian  idea,  they  are  subordi- 
nate. In  the  main  it  is  the  worship  of  the  One 
True  Being. 

This  faith  has  no  right  to  be  called  Confucian. 
There  is  great  doubt  about  the  faith  of  Confucius. 
He  is  silent  about  religion,  or  he  refers  to  it  only 
indirectly ;  it  is  no  part  of  his  teaching ;  but  his  in- 
direct references  to  it  apparently  express  a  belief  in  a 
Supreme  Being  whom  he  calls  "Heaven,"  a  Supreme 
Being  who  has  an  influence  on  human  affairs.  He  also 
recognises  ancestor  worship,  but  with  such  a  dubious 
phrase  that  many  Chinese  and  English  scholars  have 
doubted  his  meaning.  Neither  is  this  the  faith  of  all 
the  leading  Confucianists  in  China,  many  of  whom 
are  professedly  agnostics  in  matters  of  religion,  and 
follow  the  teaching  of  Chu ;  but  it  is  the  faith, 
the  ill-understood  faith,  of  the  great  multitude  of 
thinking  and  non  -  thinking  Chinamen,  and  it  is 
looked  upon  as  the  State  religion  of  China.  Its 
power  over  China  is  universal  and  yet  insecure. 

Many  ages  ago  it  was  partially  defeated  by  the 
more  logical  and  more  sympathetic  faith  of  Buddhism. 
The  fight  was  bitter,  the  persecutions  were  cruel,  but 
Buddhism  conquered.  Now  Buddhism  fails.  With 
its  failure  a  vast  mass  of  superstition,  kept  alive  by 
the  sacrifice  to  the  ancestor,  once  more  rises  up  and 
stands  right  in  the  path  of  progress — right  in  the 
way  of  civilisation.  It  was  superstition  that  moved 
the  Boxer,  and  this  it  was  that  lost  credit  when 


RELIGIONS  IN  CHINA  157 

Boxerdom  failed.  Story  after  story  is  told  of  the 
influence  of  this  incoherent  but  vital  mass  of  religion. 
The  junk  will  dart  across  the  bows  of  your  steamer ; 
there  will  be  much  whistling,  reversing  of  engines, 
peremptory  commands  in  English,  abuse  in  Chinese ; 
and  when  you  inquire  why  the  lowdah  of  the  junk 
risked  his  cargo,  perhaps  his  life,  and  put  the  steamer 
and  its  passengers  in  a  state  of  excitement,  if  not  in 
jeopardy,  the  answer  is  that  every  junk  lowdah  is 
afraid  of  the  evil  spirit  that  is  following  him,  and 
if  he  crosses  the  steamer  s  bow  he  expects  that  the 
evil  spirit,  seeing  a  more  worthy  quarry,  will  neglect 
him  and  follow  the  steamer.  The  head  of  the  Shanghai 
Telephone  Company  tells  how  he  is  not  uncommonly 
met  by  some  sleek  well-to-do  Chinaman  who  is  most 
distressed  because  the  shadow  of  a  telephone  pole 
falls  over  his  door,  so  that  as  he  goes  out  he  passes 
beneath  it,  and  that  will  bring  bad  luck.  The  houses 
in  China  stand  unconformably  with  the  road,  because 
a  certain  aspect  is  lucky ;  a  cracker  is  exploded  to 
frighten  the  evil  spirits  away,  and  so  on  through  tales 
innumerable. 

The  world  around  is  full  of  evil  spirits  to  the 
Chinaman.  Every  village  has  the  witch  doctor  who 
is  learned  in  the  ways  of  these  evil  spirits.  Diabolical 
possession  is  as  present  with  them  as  ever  it  was  in 
Bible  times.  Your  hard-headed  commercial  man  smiles 
when  he  relates  these  stories,  incredulous  that  there 
can  be  any  foundation  for  them ;  but  those  who  have 
dwelt  among  the  Chinese  take  much  the  same  line 


158  CHANGING  CHINA 

about  these  stories  as  we  do  about  spiritualism.  Much 
is  folly,  more  is  fraud ;  but  behind  both  the  folly  and 
the  fraud  there  is  a  mysterious  reality.  The  faith 
of  the  masses  of  China  in  the  spiritual  world  has 
never  been  encouraged  by  its  philosophers.  It  owes 
its  vitality  to  the  fact  that,  as  with  us,  so  with  them, 
manifestations  of  powers  beyond  this  world  are  real 
if  ill-comprehended,  and  connected  too  often  with 
man's  evil  side.  The  Psychical  Research  Society 
will  do  well  to  inquire  closely  into  many  of  these 
phenomena.  Nothing  convinced  me  of  the  reality 
of  this  belief  more  than  the  line  that  was  taken  by 
one  of  our  English  missionaries.  He  was  speaking 
of  diabolical  possession,  and  he  related  the  same  story 
which  one  has  heard  so  often  that  a  man  suddenly 
spoke  as  another  personality ;  and  then  he  added, 
"I  realised  that  it  was  not  he  who  was  speaking 
to  me,  but  the  evil  spirit  within  him ; "  and  he  went 
on,  '*I  was  afraid  to  speak  to  him,  because  if  you 
speak  to  those  who  are  possessed  with  an  evil  spirit, 
the  evil  spirit  will  take  possession  of  you."  It  was 
strange  to  hear  such  a  testimony  to  the  reality  of 
diabolical  possession  from  an  Englishman,  but  you 
will  hear  it  from  every  Chinaman.  Those  who  have 
read  "Pastor  Hsi"  will  remember  how  firm  was  his 
belief  in  such  possession. 

Against  all  this  mass  of  the  evil  world  the  China- 
man has  but  one  defence  :  his  father  and  his  ancestor 
belong  to  that  world  and  they  will  defend  him ;  and 
so  the  ancestor  cult  is  intimately  connected  with  this 


RELIGIONS  IN  CHINA  159 

belief  in  evil  spirits.  If  the  father  does  not  bestir 
himself  the  son  may  come  to  harm — in  fact,  the  main 
part  of  a  Chinaman's  religious  idea  centres  round 
ancestor  worship ;  and  there  is  no  such  awful  moment 
in  a  Christian  convert's  life  as  when  he  is  required  to 
destroy  the  tablet  of  his  ancestors.  A  Confucianist 
cannot  understand  the  missionary  position ;  to  his 
mind  contempt  for  the  ancestor  only  means  a  deep 
and  spiritual  scepticism,  an  absence  of  all  faith  in 
the  supernatural,  a  negation  of  all  sense  of  duty.  A 
missionary  recounted  a  story  illustrative  of  this  diffi- 
culty. He  was  travelling  up-country  in  China,  and  his 
road  lay  along  the  same  way  down  which  a  well-to-do 
merchant  was  travelling,  and  as  they  journeyed  on  side 
by  side  and  met  every  night  at  the  inns  at  which 
they  put  up,  he  noticed  that  the  Chinaman  eyed  him 
askance ;  but  as  the  missionary  spoke  Chinese  well, 
and  as   travellers   have   many   little  wants  which 

I  another  traveller  can  supply,  it  was  not  unnatural 
that  in  spite  of  the  mistrust  manifested  by  the  China- 
man they  should  fall  gradually  into  more  intimate 
converse.     One  night  as  they  were  sitting  at  an  inn 

j  the  Chinaman  said  to  the  missionary,  "Do  you  know 
I  thought  you  were  a  Christian,  but  I  see  you  are  a 
good  fellow."  The  missionary  assured  him  that  he 
was  a  Christian,  and  did  not  deny  that  he  was  a  good 
fellow.  He  felt,  however,  that  there  was  some  obstacle 
in  the  Chinaman's  mind  that  kept  them  still  apart, 
and  as  they  journeyed  on  from  day  to  day  and  had 
grown  more  intimate,  the  Chinaman  said,  "  You  know 


i6o  CHANGING  CHINA 


people  do  tell  such  lies  that  one  cannot  believe  a  word 
they  say."  The  missionary  assented  to  this  general 
proposition  as  true  of  all  the  world,  but  asked  for  a 
more  immediate  application.  The  Chinaman  continued: 
Well,  I  hope  you  will  not  be  offended  if  I  tell  you 
the  lies  they  tell  about  you — lies  that  I  am  afraid  I 
believed  till  I  met  you  and  could  see  what  a  good 
fellow  you  are.  They  say — "  but  he  broke  off. 
"  Pardon  me,  it  is  such  a  horrible  accusation  that  I 
do  not  like  to  repeat  it,  even  though  I  know  that  it  is 
untrue."  The  missionary  pressed  him  to  tell  what 
this  accusation  was,  and  the  Chinaman  continued 
apologetically,  '*  I  know  that  it  is  such  a  lie  that  I 
am  ashamed  that  my  people  should  tell  such  lies,  but 
they  do  say  that  you  Christians  actually  teach  men 
to  break  up  the  tablet  on  which  their  father's  name  is 
written  ; "  and  the  missionary  realised  all  at  once  the 
depth  of  the  conviction  of  the  Chinaman  and  the 
wide  gulf  that  separated  him  from  Christianity. 
And  so  many  and  many  a  person  who  knows  China 
best  confidently  asserts  that  Christianity  will  never 
become  the  religion  of  China  till  it  permits  and  recog- 
nises this  ancestral  worship. 

But  now  a  new  factor  has  entered  into  this  pro- 
blem. Western  materialism  is  spreading  its  malign 
influence  over  China ;  the  educated  classes  of  Japan 
boldly  profess  that  they  have  long  since  ceased  to 
believe  in  any  religion,  and  they  are  calling  upon 
China  with  great  effect  to  follow  their  example,  and 
so  the  position  changes  altogether.   Ancestor  worship, 


RELIGIONS  IN  CHINA  i6i 


with  all  its  accompanying  superstition,  tends  to  dis- 
appear where  Western  knowledge  is  taught.  The 
Boxers  were  not  untrue  prophets  when  they  told 
their  people  that  they  or  Western  civilisation,  as  they 
knew  it,  must  leave  China,  and  that  they  could  not 
co-exist.  The  position  is  surely  one  that  must  excite 
the  very  deepest  interest.  It  is  scarcely  conceivable 
that  a  race  so  deeply  convinced  of  the  realities  of  the 
spiritual  world  will,  as  a  whole,  accept  the  belief  that 
there  are  no  spirits.  It  is  equally  inconceivable  that 
with  modern  Western  education  the  people  shall 
believe  in  the  spirit  that  follows  the  junk,  or  in  the 
spirit  that  is  angered  by  a  mining  operation.  The 
religious  sentiment  of  China  will,  as  it  were,  be 
turned  out  of  doors  by  Western  knowledge.  There 
will  be  a  terrible  moment  when,  with  all  the  in- 
solence of  youth,  the  young  man  refuses  to  believe 
in  God  or  in  a  devil,  and  rushes  into  every  wild 
anarchical  and  socialistic  scheme  to  satisfy  his  craving 
for  action. 

It  is  a  terrible  moment,  and  one  which  one  sees 
rapidly  developing  in  Japan  and  among  the  Western- 
ised Chinese ;  but  beyond  that  terrible  period  there 
dawns  a  brighter  day  when  China  will  reassert  its 
natural  sentiment  arid  will  accept  Christianity  as 
the  only  reasonable  religion  that  is  consonant 
with  modern  science  and  a  belief  in  the  spiritual 
world.  The  question  of  policy  that  needs  solving 
is  whether  it  is  wise  in  the  face  of  this  great 
Western  unbelieving  movement  to  treat  respect  for 


i62  CHANGING  CHINA 


ancestors  too  drastically.  Western  education  must 
remove  its  objectionable  features  and  Christianity 
might  accept  the  modified  form  of  this  belief  which 
is  not  wholly  inconsistent  with  the  doctrine  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


CONFUCIAN  PHILOSOPHY  AND  WESTERN  CULTURE 

It  is  not  realised  in  the  West  how  much  the  modern 
movement  in  Japan  owes  its  power  and  vitality  to 
a  native  movement  which  welcomed  change.  In 
Japan  Buddhism  had  failed,  the  one  school  of  Con- 
fucianism which  believed  in  change  was  dominant, 
and  therefore  it  was  a  comparatively  easy  matter 
to  introduce  the  extensive  changes  of  Western  civili- 
sation. There  was  no  religion  with  roots  deeply 
entwined  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  to  oppose  such 
a  change.  Shintoism  had  not  yet  been  rediscovered 
and  established,  and  it  consisted  merely  of  a  mass 
of  superstition,  without  any  literature  or  organisation. 
Thus  it  was  the  combination  of  these  facts,  with  the 
threatening  attitude  of  Western  powers,  which  made 
all  the  prophecies  of  men  who  knew  the  East  untrue. 
No  one  understood  the  vital  power  of  the  movement 
in  Japan.  If,  thirty  years  ago,  some  one  had  written 
a  book  to  prove  that  Japan  would  one  day  defeat 
Russia,  people  would  have  laughed  at  the  sugges- 
tion, and  the  authority  of  people  who  had  lived  in 
the  East  all  their  lives  would  have  been  quoted  to 
prove  that  an  Eastern  race  could  never  fully  accept 
Western  civilisation.    The  prophets  were  misled  by 


1 64  CHANGING  CHINA 


the  precedent  of  India  and  Turkey.  The  Western 
civihsation  is  met  there  by  religions  whose  tenets 
are  opposed  to  Western  thought,  and  as  long  as  those 
religions  hold,  Western  views  will  make  but  small 
progress ;  but  in  Japan  there  was  no  such  religion, 
and  in  China  to-day  there  is  no  such  religion.  The 
Buddhism  of  China,  like  the  Buddhism  of  J apan,  may 
satisfy  the  cravings  for  spiritual  religion  of  the  un- 
educated and  the  ignorant ;  but  the  thinkers  of  both 
races — the  statesmen,  the  writers,  the  leaders — are 
uninfluenced  by  Buddhism.  Taoism  has  contributed 
to  the  thought  and  superstition  of  China,  but  is  in  no 
way  now  an  important  factor  in  her  development ; 
the  philosophy  of  Confucius  is  the  one  vital  force  in 
the  land. 

Its  doctrines  are  in  no  way  opposed  to  our  civili- 
sation ;  it  teaches  mainly  that  a  man  must  be  sin- 
cere to  his  own  higher  nature  ;  it  has  a  profound 
belief  in  the  greatness  of  human  nature,  and  a  very 
inadequate  explanation,  therefore,  of  the  failures  of 
that  nature.  That  man  must  be  sincere,  so  that  the 
full  beauty  of  his  nature  may  appear,  is  one  of  its 
main  tenets,  and  that  this  beautiful  thing  must  be 
decorated  with  knowledge  is  a  natural  corollary.  It 
undertakes  the  reform  of  the  world,  by  convincing 
the  ruler  of  his  duty,  and  through  him  compelling  the 
ruled  to  tread  the  right  path,  contrasting  here  very 
strongly  with  the  religion  of  our  Bible,  though  per- 
haps not  with  political  Christianity.  All  through 
its  teaching  there  is  an  underlying  suggestion  that 


CONFUCIAN  PHILOSOPHY  165 

Bubjects  will  obey  their  rulers  not  only  outwardly 
but  also  inwardly  in  their  opinions  and  convictions. 

Confucianism  does  not  believe  in  government  by 
the  people,  of  the  people,  for  the  people;  but  it 
believes  very  strongly  in  government  for  the  people 
by  the  rulers.  Many  of  its  maxims  might  be  cut 
out  as  texts,  and  hung  up  in  the  House  of  Commons 
with  great  appropriateness.  It  constantly  pictures 
a  well-ordered  peaceful  state,  in  which  the  dignity 
of  government  is  well  maintained,  and  where  the 
working-man  shall  profit  by  his  work  through  justice 
and  peace,  and  the  trader  grow  rich  in  confident 
security.  In  all  this  teaching  it  is  not  opposed  to 
Western  civilisation.  Confucius  advocates  the  reform 
of  society  by  the  action  of  the  State.  Thus  the 
sanitary  laws,  the  education  laws,  the  temperance 
laws  of  the  West  are  thoroughly  consistent  with  the 
teaching  of  Confucius.  Where  that  teaching  difiers 
from  the  West  is  that  it  disbelieves  in  democracy. 
Yet  Confucianism  cares  nothing  for  a  man  s  birth  : 
all  men  are  born  equal  to  the  Confucianist  as  to 
the  Christian  ;  and  so  Confucianism  has,  for  many 
centuries,  welcomed  people  of  the  lowest  birth  as 
Governors,  if  they  could  pass  the  requisite  examina- 
tions, and,  having  given  every  opportunity  to  men  of 
all  classes  to  become  officials,  it  entrusts  them  and 
not  the  people  with  the  government  of  the  country. 

In  another  way  Confucianism  is  opposed  to  Wes- 
tern civilisation.  Confucianism  believes  intensely 
in  the  dignity  of  government ;  their  classics  are  full 


1 66  CHANGING  CHINA 


of  examples  of  people  who,  at  the  risk  of  their  lives, 
defied  kings  and  maintained  the  dignity  of  their 
positions  ;  and  this  doctrine  of  dignity  is  consequently 
very  deeply  ingrained  in  Chinese  thought ;  it  is  in 
reality  the  base  of  that  curious  doctrine  of  "  face " 
by  which  a  man  will  do  anything  rather  than  confess 
that  he  is  wrong.  A  great  missionary  recounts  how 
his  wonderful  work  at  Tientsin  was  once  threatened 
with  destruction  because  a  boy  from  the  south  of 
China  knocked  a  boy  from  the  north  off  his  bicycle, 
with  the  result  that  the  college  was  soon  divided 
into  two  factions  on  the  question  as  to  who  should 
pay  for  the  injured  bicycle.  The  matter  was  only  with 
difficulty  arranged  by  the  President  paying  for  the 
bicycle  and  charging  it  to  the  guilty  boy ;  but  the 
boy  did  not  mind  paying — he  minded  confessing  that 
he  was  wrong.  There  was  another  case  in  this  same 
college  where  a  boy  had  been  induced  to  confess 
privately  his  sorrow  that  he  had  wilfully  insulted 
a  master.  He  was  prepared  to  suffer  expulsion 
rather  than  confess  his  fault  openly.  He  was 
miserable  at  the  prospect  of  leaving  the  college,  and 
when  a  great  appeal  was  made  to  his  better  feelings 
to  say  that  he  was  sorry,  he  shook  his  head  sadly. 
At  last  he  was  asked,  Have  you  never  allowed  you 
were  wrong  in  your  whole  life  ? "  "  No,"  he  said, 
with  a  look  of  pride,  "  never,*'  Odious  and  detestable 
as  this  doctrine  is  in  private  life,  I  think  I  have  the 
authority  of  St.  Augustine  for  saying  that  it  is  a 
maxim  of  good  government  that  however  wrong  an 


CONFUCIAN  PHILOSOPHY  167 

order  may  be,  a  superior  should  not  confess  his  error, 
so  necessary  is  this  doctrine  of  dignity  to  government. 
Thus  the  Chinese  expression  face  "  has  been  com- 
monly accepted  as  a  good  English  expression  when 
speaking  about  governments. 

No  doubt  it  is  this  sense  of  dignity  which  gives 
such  authority  to  the  Chinese  official.  In  many  ways 
it  may  be  an  element  of  weakness.  I  was  surprised 
to  learn  that  the  officials  in  the  Yamen  had  never 
been  in  the  shops  of  the  city ;  it  is  beneath  their 
dignity.  Goods  are  brought  to  them  and  they  buy 
in  their  own  houses.  For  instance  we  were  told  how 
in  Changsha  two  patriotic  bas-reliefs  were  put  up  in 
a  shop,  one  of  them  representing  the  Westerns  bring- 
ing tribute  to  the  Emperor  of  China,  and  the  other 
depicting  a  Western  woman,  chained  and  dishevelled, 
being  led  in  as  a  slave.  Of  course  our  very  excellent 
and  most  efficient  representative,  Consul  Hewlett, 
made  instant  representation  to  the  Governor  and 
the  objectionable  figures  were  removed ;  but  the 
Chinese  officials  claimed  that  they  were  completely 
ignorant  of  what  was  happening  in  the  shops  of  the 
town,  because  they  never  went  there. 

It  is  obvious  that  this  high  estimation  of  dignity 
makes  much  of  Western  government  antipathetic  to  a 
Chinaman  ;  he  cannot  sympathise  with  a  civilisation 
which  admires  government  by  noisy  agitation,  vulgar 
posters,  indecent  journalism.  Such  an  agitation  as 
that  in  favour  of  women's  suffrage  is  inconceiv- 
able and  disgusting  beyond  words  to  the  mind  of 


i68  CHANGING  CHINA 


a  Chinese  thinker ;  that  women,  whose  dignity  is 
such  that  they  should  never  be  tried  in  a  pubHc 
court ;  that  educated  ladies,  whose  names,  in  China, 
must  scarcely  be  mentioned  owing  to  their  exalted 
position,  should  wrestle  in  a  public  crowd  and  be 
arrested,  is  one  of  those  mysteries  in  Western  govern- 
ment that  the  dignified  Eastern  mind  can  never  hope 
to  understand. 

Confucianism,  considered  by  itself,  is  not  un- 
favourable to  Western  civilisation,  and  its  great 
influence  in  China  will  no  doubt  largely  accelerate 
the  Westernisation  of  that  vast  empire.  For  instance, 
the  policy  of  education  is  one  which  has  been  followed 
by  China  for  many  a  long  year  ;  all  that  the  Chinese 
are  doing  is  to  alter  the  object  of  that  education. 
It  used  to  aim  at  giving  men  a  complete  knowledge 
of  the  Chinese  classics ;  now  it  aims  at  giving  them 
in  addition  a  knowledge  of  the  West  and  of  natural 
sciences ;  and  so  such  an  eminent  Confucian  scholar 
and  such  an  ardent  Conservative  as  the  late  Chang- 
Chih-Tung  was  the  foremost  advocate  for  a  Western 
education. 

Again  the  development  of  the  Press  on  Western 
lines  takes  place  rapidly  in  China,  where  newspapers 
have  long  been  known,  and  which  boasts  of  being 
a  country  possessing  the  oldest  newspaper  in  the 
world,  the  Peking  Gazette.  Translations  of  Western 
literature  issued  by  the  Christian  Literature  Society 
are  read  with  avidity  by  a  race  that  esteems  litera- 
ture highly,  no  matter  with  what  subject  it  deals, 


CONFUCIAN  PHILOSOPHY  169 

and  who  has  no  worse  an  epithet  for  one  of  its 
emperors  than  "book-burner." 

Though  Confucianism  is  not  antipathetic  to 
Western  civilisation  as  a  whole,  and  by  its  philo- 
sophy and  literature  encourages  education  in  Wes- 
tern ideas,  yet  those  ideas  will,  I  fear,  be  fatal  to 
that  mighty  system  of  ethics  that  has  kept  China 
together,  and  has  enabled  her  to  conquer  her  con- 
querors so  many  times.  The  countries  that  have 
never  known  Confucius  are  succeeding  far  better 
than  the  countries  that  have  been  taught  by  him. 
The  fact  that  he  always  claimed  that  any  race  who 
followed  his  teaching  would  be  prosperous,  coupled 
with  the  fact  that  China,  with  her  splendid  resources 
and  immense  population,  is  far  poorer  and  weaker 
than  nations  who  know  nothing  of  his  teaching,  is 
sufficient  to  bring  its  own  condemnation  to  this 
philosophy.  There  is  a  marked  difference  in  the 
teaching  of  Christianity  and  Confucianism  in  this 
respect.  Christianity,  by  the  example  of  its  founder, 
teaches  that  the  world  must  be  reformed  through 
the  individual  ;  and  that  the  destruction  of  a  State, 
whether  it  be  Jerusalem  or  Home,  is  only  a  painful 
incident  in  the  upward  advance  of  mankind.  If 
every  Western  State  were  destroyed,  the  true 
Christian  would  only  pause  longer  over  his  reading 
of  the  prophet  Jeremiah ;  but  when  China,  the  home 
of  Confucianism,  realises  her  powerlessness  in  the  face 
of  the  West,  in  sorrow  and  regret  she  will  close  the 
books  of  Confucius,  as  the  books  that  guided  the 


I70  CHANGING  CHINA 


State  to  destruction,  even  though  that  teaching  was 
pleasant  and  beautiful. 

A  great  Chinaman  realised  that  this  was  the 
position  of  Japan,  and  told  me  that  he  did  not  believe 
that  in  Japan  any  one  really  believed  in  Buddhism 
or  in  Confucianism  or  in  the  new-found  Shintoism ; 
and  that,  as  they  had  not  yet  accepted  Christianity, 
they  were  in  a  state,  odious  to  the  Western  and 
Eastern  alike,  of  being  without  moral  guidance  in 
this  world.  The  position  of  Japan  to-day  will,  in  all 
probability,  be,  both  in  regard  to  the  constructive 
and  destructive  effects  of  Western  civilisation,  the 
condition  of  China  to-morrow,  unless  indeed  Chris- 
tianity can  fill  the  vacant  place  in  Chinese  thought. 
Never  before  has  such  an  opportunity  been  presented 
to  the  Christian  world  as  this  vast  mass  of  population 
included  under  the  name  of  China,  left  homeless  by 
the  action  of  world  thought. 

Those  millions  of  people,  for  instance,  who  yearn 
for  a  spiritual  religion,  and  who  have  found  in  times 
past  some  comfort  in  the  confused  and  corrupt  faith 
of  Chinese  Buddhism,  are  now  ready  with  open  ears 
to  listen  to  any  one  who  is  prepared  to  teach  them 
a  higher  and  more  spiritual  religion.  The  Confucian 
scholar  who  realises  the  debt  that  China  owes  to 
the  teaching  of  the  sage,  and  yet  who  feels  that 
Western  civilisation  is  sapping  his  authority  and 
leaving  China  without  a  moral  guide,  welcomes 
readily  the  teaching  of  the  moral  philosopher  who 
is  prepared  to  show  that  Confucianism  is  essentially 


CONFUCIAN  PHILOSOPHY  171 

right  and  has  evidence  of  Divine  truth  within  it,  but 
that  it  only  errs  in  not  realising  that  the  complete 
salvation  of  man  can  only  be  accomplished  by  those 
who  appeal  to  his  spiritual  nature  as  well  as  to  his 
moral  sentiments. 

If  Christianity  conquers  China,  one  of  her  first 
actions  will  be  to  reinstate  Confucius  in  the  position 
from  which  Western  materialism  has  dethroned  him ; 
but  the  task  would  be  infinitely  easier  if  Christians 
could  take  effective  action  at  once.  Every  day  that 
passes  makes  the  position  more  difficult.  Every  Con- 
fucian scholar  who  shuts  up  his  books  and  opens  the 
books  of  the  materialistic  philosopher  of  the  West, 
will  prove  an  additional  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the 
Christianisation  of  China.  The  great  danger  is  that 
the  West,  ignorant  of  what  is  happening  in  the 
East,  will  let  this  opportunity  pass  and  allow  Wes- 
tern materialism  to  establish  itself  as  a  force  in  China, 
as  it  has  established  itself  as  a  force  in  Japan.  The 
world  is  full  of  examples  of  lost  opportunities ;  let  us 
hope  that  China  will  not  have  to  be  added  to  that 
sad  category. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


INTERVIEW  AT  NANKING 

The  best  view  of  the  religion  of  China  is  to  be 
obtained  from  the  enlightened  Chinese  themselves, 
and  their  views  will  probably  be  of  interest  to  our 
readers.  It  should  be  explained  that  one  of  the 
objects  of  our  second  visit  to  China  was  to  inquire 
whether  the  Chinese  officials  would  welcome  the 
foundation  of  Universities  in  which  Western  know- 
ledge could  be  taught,  and  whose  atmosphere  should 
be  Christian.  When  the  matter  was  first  discussed 
in  England  it  crept  into  the  newspapers,  and  I  imme- 
diately received  an  invitation  from  the  Director  of 
Chinese  Students  in  London  to  discuss  the  subject 
with  him.  I  had  two  interviews  with  him.  What 
surprised  me  was  that  against  all  the  opinion  of  the 
average  Englishman  who  is  conversant  with  China 
he  did  not  regard  the  Christian  character  of  the 
University  as  a  deterrent,  but  he  asked  one  question 
on  which  he  apparently  laid  the  very  greatest  stress. 
He  inquired,  "  If  a  University  is  started  in  China  on 
such  lines  as  you  propose,  will  you  guarantee  that  the 
teachers  are  efficient  ? "  I  immediately  assured  him 
that  the  learned  committees  who  were  considering 

the  question  at  both  Universities  would,  whatever 

173 


INTERVIEW  AT  NANKING  173 


else  they  did,  never  allow  any  one  to  go  out  as 
teacher  unless  he  was  most  fully  qualified.  He  then 
assured  me  that  he  had  no  doubt  the  scheme  would 
meet  with  very  great  sympathy  in  China,  and  that 
he  would  give  me  letters  of  introduction  to  various 
people  who  would  give  the  very  fullest  information 
on  the  subject.  Among  these  was  one  to  that  most 
eminent  man,  Tuan-Fang,  Viceroy  of  Nanking. 

When  I  arrived  at  Nanking  I  presented  my  letter 
of  introduction  through  the  Consul,  and  the  Viceroy 
most  cordially  invited  me  to  tiffin  at  the  Yamen. 
With  further  courtesy  he  sent  his  carriage  to  fetch 
me.  We  had  a  most  sumptuous  repast,  at  which 
about  twenty  officials  were  present,  and  in  con- 
sideration of  my  being  a  foreigner  some  European 
food  was  provided.  They  appeared  much  pleased 
when  I  assured  them  that  I  appreciated  Chinese 
quite  as  much  as  European  food.  We  had  a  most 
pleasant  luncheon,  at  which  we  discussed  all  manner 
of  topics.  I  was  asked  to  explain  exactly  the  position 
of  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and  when  I  mentioned 
that  Oxford  was  over  a  thousand  years  old,  I  had 
evidently  established  the  reputation  of  my  Univer- 
sity far  above  that  of  all  competitors.  The  Viceroy 
then  admired  the  school  system  of  England.  He  said 
the  schools  were  like  a  forest,"  and  he  assured  me 
that  he  took  the  very  greatest  interest  in  education, 
and  promised  after  luncheon  to  show  me  some  of  his 
schools.  I  expressed  admiration  of  Chinese  learning, 
and  he  told  me  it  was  divided  into  four  heads — 


174  CHANGING  CHINA 

morals,  elegancy  of  style,  philosophy,  and  manners. 
The  respect  that  His  Excellency  had  for  Confucius 
did  not  prevent  him  from  admiring  other  philosophers, 
especially  Mih-Tieh,  the  philosopher  who  taught  the 
doctrine  of  universal  love.  This  was  the  more  re- 
markable, because  at  Hankow  the  very  same  point 
had  been  discussed  with  some  Chinese  clergy  over 
Sunday  supper,  and  they  had  referred  to  this  philo- 
sopher's works  with  considerable  admiration,  and 
had  declared  that  his  doctrine  was  much  more  con- 
sonant with  Christianity  than  that  of  any  other 
Chinese  philosopher. 

His  Excellency  then  discussed  the  danger  of  a 
modern  education.  He  quite  realised  the  obvious 
evils  that  resulted  from  rashly  encouraging  Western 
education  without  an  ethical  basis.  He  said  they 
had  observed  that  those  who  returned  from  the  West 
were  less  dutiful  to  parents  than  those  who  had 
remained  in  China.  Then  we  had  a  long  talk  as 
to  whether  it  was  possible  to  assimilate  the  two 
and  to  give  a  man  a  perfect  foreign  and  a  perfect 
Chinese  education.  The  difficulty  felt  was  that  men 
with  a  perfect  foreign  education  were  too  often  unable 
to  write  Chinese  with  sufficient  elegance  to  satisfy 
the  fastidious  taste  of  the  cultivated  Chinese  scholar. 
All  this  conversation  was  carried  on  at  the  dinner- 
table,  chiefly  through  interpreters,  with  a  crowd  of 
Chinese  servants,  excluded  from  the  room,  but  look- 
ing through  a  window  to  watch  when  our  needs 
required  their  presence. 


INTERVIEW  AT  NANKING  175 

We  discussed  after  tiffin  the  scheme  for  a  Uni- 
versity and  the  relations  between  Confucianism  and 
Christianity.  His  Excellency  was  much  pleased  that 
I  should  take  such  interest  in  things  Chinese,  and 
immediately  said  that  as  I  had  come  all  the  way  to 
China  to  inquire  into  these  things,  I  ought  to  receive 
every  information.  Turning  to  his  secretaries,  he 
told  them  that  on  the  next  day  they  were  to  provide 
scholars  learned  in  Confucianism,  Buddhism,  and 
Taoism  to  give  me  all  the  information  that  I  re- 
quired, and  arranged  that  the  Consul  and  I  should 
return  next  day.  He  then  suggested  that  we  should 
go  and  inspect  the  school  that  was  next  his  palace, 
and  in  which  his  own  daughter  was  being  educated. 

The  school  was  for  children  of  the  highest  class, 
and  contained  only  about  thirty  boys  and  thirty 
girls.  He  conducted  a  sort  of  informal  examination 
which  I  should  have  thought  must  have  been  ex- 
tremely trying  for  the  children.  His  Excellency  and 
myself  came  first,  then  two  interpreters,  and  then 
about  twenty  officials.  When  the  scholars  were 
examined  in  Western  knowledge,  we  were  asked  to 
put  a  question  or  to  look  at  a  copy-book ;  when 
they  were  examined  in  Confucian  knowledge,  His 
Excellency  put  the  question,  and  the  interpreters 
translated  to  me  both  the  question  and  the  answer. 
The  intelligence  of  the  children  was  of  a  very  high 
order,  and  they  were  very  attractive.  The  uniform 
of  the  boys  resembled  that  of  a  French  schoolboy, 
though  the  cut  of  the  trousers  showed  that  the 


176  CHANGING  CHINA 


costume  had  been  made  by  a  Chinese  tailor,  probably 
after  a  Japanese  model.  The  girls  were  dressed  in 
grey  coats  and  trousers  and  had  natural  feet ;  this 
was  perhaps  not  quite  so  remarkable  as  it  at  first 
appeared  when  one  remembers  that  the  Viceroy  is 
a  Manchu,  and  the  Manchus  have  never  admired  the 
distorted  foot  of  a  Chinese  woman ;  but  as  they 
went  through  their  musical  drill  one  could  not  help 
thinking  that  the  neat  coat  buttoned  across  and 
reaching  to  the  knees  over  loose  trousers  was  about 
as  ideal  a  dress  as  has  ever  been  invented  for  women. 
His  Excellency  did  not  fail  to  make  his  own  daughter 
stand  up,  and  asked  her  many  difficult  questions, 
which  she  answered  very  well  in  a  calm  and  collected 
manner.  After  showing  us  these  schools  His  Excel- 
lency said  that  we  must  stop  a  third  day  and  see 
many  of  the  other  schools  in  Nanking. 

Next  morning  I  was  most  distressed  to  find  that 
my  friend  Mr.  King,  His  Majesty's  Consul,  was  too 
unwell  to  attend  the  interview  which  I  was  to  have 
with  the  learned  men  of  Nanking,  and  so  with  some 
trepidation  lest  I  should  make  sad  faults  in  my 
manners  without  his  kindly  guidance,  I  drove  up 
to  the  Yamen.  There  I  was  received  by  a  crowd 
of  officials,  among  whom  were  two  great  Confucian 
scholars  with  the  Hanlin  Degree,  an  authority  on 
Buddhism  and  an  authority  on  Taoism,  whose  know- 
ledge subsequently  proved  to  be  extremely  small. 

The  courtesy  of  the  Chinese  officials,  the  charm  of 
their  manner,  the  mixture  of  dignity  and  good  nature 


INTERVIEW  AT  NANKING  177 

which  is  such  a  characteristic  of  their  behaviour, 
makes  controversy  with  them  dehghtful.  I  do  not 
think  any  one  who  has  known  them  can  be  but 
greatly  attracted  by  their  courtesy  and  kindness.  All 
Chinese  are  courteous,  but  the  Chinese  literati,  per- 
haps naturally,  greatly  excel  their  fellow-countrymen 
in  this  charming  characteristic.  I  should  add  that 
the  two  interpreters  who  were  provided  were  men 
whose  mastery  of  English  was  only  equalled  by  their 
wide  learning  and  pleasant  address.  One  of  them 
had  been  in  England  and  was  indeed  a  great  traveller  ; 
he  had  ridden  all  through  the  passes  which  separate 
India  from  Chinese  Turkestan  ;  he  belonged  to  a  very 
great  family,  and  traced  his  descent  from  one  of  the 
leading  pupils  of  Confucius. 

We  discussed  Confucianism  first.  I  set  the  ball 
rolling  by  asking  what  was  meant  by  the  phrase 
superior  man."  The  position  was  a  pleasant  one  ; 
I  was  there  to  be  instructed,  and  could  therefore  ask 
as  many  questions  as  I  chose.  The  "superior  man" 
is  a  translation  of  a  phrase  in  the  Chinese  classics 
which  perhaps  might  be  better  translated  ideal 
man  "  ;  at  least  so  I  gathered  from  these  gentlemen  ; 
and  that  in  the  works  of  Confucius  and  Mencius  his 
qualities  are  fully  described.  With  great  joy  the 
whole  party  fell  upon  the  question,  and  next  minute 
they  were  engaged  in  a  courteous  polemic  as  to  how 
exactly  they  should  describe  the  "superior  man,"  and 
the  answer  came  that  he  must  be  a  conscientious  man, 
a  man  very  true  to  himself,  charitable,  just  and  truth - 


178  CHANGING  CHINA 


ful.  When  they  were  pressed  as  to  whether  wealth 
was  at  all  necessary  to  the  "  ideal  man,"  they  indig- 
nantly repudiated  the  suggestion ;  the  "  superior 
man''  might  equally  be  a  beggar  sitting  by  the 
roadside  or  a  Viceroy  sitting  in  his  palace.  It  was 
more  interesting  when  they  were  asked  whether  he 
need  be  a  learned  man.  There  was  some  doubt  and 
hesitation  in  the  answers  ;  the  doctors  again  consulted 
with  one  another,  and  the  answer  came, No,  learning 
was  not  at  all  necessary."  I  asked  whether  the 
''ideal  man"  might  be  a  non-Chinaman,  and  it 
was  held  that  he  might  belong  to  any  race.  But 
the  next  question  was  far  more  difficult  for  them 
to  answer.  Nothing  that  they  had  said  prevented 
the  "  superior  man "  being  a  Christian  ;  a  Christian 
might  be  true  and  conscientious  and  charitable.  I 
quoted  the  case  of  a  foreign  doctor  living  in  their 
city,  and  asked  how  he  failed  to  come  within  their 
definition  of  the  "superior  man,"  but  the  Hanlin 
scholars  could  not  agree ;  no  Christian,  in  their 
opinion,  could  be  a  "  superior  man."  But  my  inter- 
preter added  that  he  himself  did  not  endorse  this ; 
to  his  mind  any  man  who  fulfilled  the  requirements 
should  be  classed  as  a  "  superior  man." 

We  then  changed  the  conversation  to  the  question 
of  "whether  Confucius  believed  in  God  or  not?"  I 
had  been  instructed  in  this  controversy  by  one  of  the 
most  learned  missionaries  in  China,  Dr.  Ross  of  Muk- 
den. They  maintained,  as  he  told  me  they  would 
maintain,  that  the  Heaven  of  Confucius  meant  Reason. 


INTERVIEW  AT  NANKING  179 

But  Reason  cannot  possibly  punish  the  guilty,  though 
the  guilty  might  be  punished  by  their  want  of  Reason. 
And  as  Confucius  refers  iu  several  places  to  Heaven 
as  a  power  that  punishes,  the  definition  is  obviously 
incorrect.  It  dates  from  a  philosopher  called  Chu. 
Again  the  learned  men  were  absorbed  in  controversy, 
every  one  enjoying  such  a  discussion.  The  greatest 
number  still  held  to  the  doctrine  that  Heaven  meant 
Reason,  but  a  certain  number  held  that  it  meant  a 
personal  God.  It  ended  in  the  controversy  becoming 
quite  heated,  and  in  a  copy  of  Dr.  Legge's  translation 
of  the  Chinese  classics  being  fetched,  so  that  I  might 
fully  understand  their  different  points  of  view.  In 
the  end  we  agreed  that  there  was  a  considerable 
force  in  the  argument  that  Confucius  believed  in  a 
personal  God. 

When  I  further  asked  how  Reason  could  possibly 
punish  a  bad  man  when  he  was  dead,  and  how  it  was 
that  many  a  bad  man,  as  we  all  know,  died  in  wealth 
and  prosperity,  they  answered  that  after  death  his 
memory  was  punished  by  his  bad  deeds  coming  to 
light.  I  suggested  that  if  a  man  was  dead  this  did 
not  matter  to  him,  and  that  Confucius'  assertion  that 
punishment  follow^ed  sin  implied  a  future  life.  When 
they  were  further  asked  whether  Confucius  taught 
that  all  secret  sin  should  one  day  be  made  public, 
there  was  an  eloquent  silence,  and  we  dropped  the 
subject. 

We  then  went  on  to  discuss  Buddhism,  and  a 
pleasant   old   gentleman   leaning  on  a   stick  was 


i8o  CHANGING  CHINA 


brought  up  to  instruct  me  in  the  doctrine  of 
Buddhism.  It  was  obvious  from  the  jocose  and 
pleasant  way  the  matter  was  treated,  that  this 
was  very  different  ground  to  the  philosophy  of 
Confucius.  Then,  though  everybody  was  courteous, 
everybody  was  keenly  and  seriously  interested,  but 
Buddhism  was  regarded  as  a  most  amusing  topic ; 
I  was  assured  that  only  a  few  women  believed  in 
it,  and  that  none  of  those  in  the  room  gave  it  the 
slightest  credence.  They  explained  to  me  why 
the  Dalai  Lama  came  to  Peking.  Two  of  the  dis- 
ciples of  Buddha  had  been  reincarnated,  and  the 
greatest  of  those  two  was  the  Dalai  Lama,  but  it 
was  impossible  to  tell  in  which  baby  the  reincar- 
nation took  place  without  coming  to  the  Mongol 
Temple  at  Peking ;  then  lots  were  cast  and  the 
matter  was  settled.  I  had  my  doubts  whether  the 
old  gentleman  was  accurate,  but  clearly  no  one  else 
in  the  room  had  the  smallest  acquaintance  with  the 
subject ;  they  made  a  marked  difference  between  the 
Buddhism  of  the  Lama  Temple  at  Peking  and  that  of 
the  Monastery  at  Hangchow,  which  they  called  Indian 
Buddhism,  and  said  the  district  was  often  named 
Little  India  ;  but  w^hen  I  tried  to  discover  how  many 
sects  of  Buddhists  there  were  in  China,  or  what 
was  the  nature  of  their  tenets,  I  could  get  no 
information  from  these  gentlemen. 

His  Excellency  Tuan-Fang  joined  us  at  this 
moment  and  asked  whether  I  could  possibly  read 
a  Sanscrit  manuscript  that  he  had  discovered,  and 


INTERVIEW  AT  NANKING  i8i 


which,  from  the  Chinese  notes  appended  to  it,  he 
gathered  referred  to  Buddhism.  He  also  wished  to 
discuss  the  origin  of  Chinese  characters ;  he  had  a 
theory  that  they  came  from  Egypt,  and  he  showed 
many  rubbings  of  hieroglyphics  which  he  had  had 
made  from  monuments  in  Egypt  to  prove  his  point. 

But  I  wanted  to  ask  some  questions  about  Taoism. 
I  had  tried  to  understand  Taoism  and  had  found 
it  extremely  difficult,  and  I  thought  these  cultured 
literati  could  give  me  some  assistance.  I  was 
soon  undeceived.  Nobody  believed  in  Taoism,  and 
they  knew  nothing  of  its  doctrine  or  of  its  worship. 
They  suggested  that  the  Taoist  priests  were  often 
to  be  found  in  a  Buddhist  temple,  but  one  scholar 
said  that  that  was  only  because  the  Taoist  priest 
liked  to  make  a  little  money  by  selling  incense 
sticks. 

Then  His  Excellency  turned  the  tables  and  began 
asking  questions  about  Christianity.  The  thing  that 
troubled  him  was  that  the  Bible  which  he  had 
read  was  in  such  poor  style.  He  wanted  to  know 
whether  I  thought  our  Blessed  Saviour  habitually 
wrote  in  good  style  or  not.  I  explained  that  He  had 
originally  spoken  in  Aramaic,  which  had  been  trans- 
lated into  Greek,  and  from  the  Greek  into  English, 
and  then  had  been  retranslated  by  Englishmen  into 
Chinese,  so  naturally  the  Chinese  version  could  but 
inadequately  represent  the  full  beauty  of  His  words. 
It  is  worthy  of  notice  how  much  the  Chinese  mind 
is  attracted  by  all  purely  literary  subjects,  and  how 


i82  CHANGING  CHINA 


little  they  care  about  physical  science.  For  instance, 
when  the  Viceroy  asked  me  about  the  sun  standing 
still  in  the  Book  of  Joshua,  which  led  us  into  natural 
science,  it  was  immediately  obvious  that  this  was  a 
subject  in  which  these  gentlemen  took  no  interest. 

We  then  repaired  to  a  sumptuous  luncheon  pre- 
pared entirely  in  Chinese  fashion.  The  viands  were 
exquisitely  cooked,  and  comprised  bird's-nest  soup, 
shark's  fins,  white  fungus,  and  all  the  usual  Chinese 
delicacies.  The  hospitality  of  my  host  made  me 
regret  that  the  capacity  of  a  human  body  is  limited, 
and  if  it  were  not  for  the  excellency  of  the  Chinese 
cooking,  dyspepsia  must  have  been  the  result.  Over 
luncheon  we  discussed  all  manner  of  topics,  and  I 
noticed  how  extremely  sensitive  my  hosts  were  to 
the  slightest  want  of  manners.  They  referred  to 
a  mutual  friend,  a  European,  in  the  severest  terms 
because  he  lacked  in  courtesy.  They  discussed  also 
the  question  of  foot-binding.  They  were  convinced 
that  the  habit  is  being  given  up,  and  they  assured 
me  that  it  did  cause  girls  excruciating  agony.  They 
said  the  younger  generation  of  Chinese  gentlemen 
would  not  marry  women  with  deformed  feet. 

I  left  the  Yamen  a  great  admirer  of  the  culture 
that  could  make  men  so  pleasant.  If  they  lacked 
directness  as  controversialists,  they  were  most  agree- 
able in  their  extreme  civility  and  their  impertur- 
bable good  humour.  I  shall  always  look  back  to 
my  days  at  Nanking  as  some  of  the  pleasantest  of 
my  life. 


CHAPTER  XV 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS  IN  CHINA 

It  is  only  just  to  put  in  the  forefront  of  the  influ- 
ences that  are  Christianising  and  changing  China 
the  French,  ItaHan,  and  other  missions  of  the 
Koman  Cathohc  Communion.  Our  first  contact 
with  the  wonderful  work  which  these  missions  are 
accomplishing  was  in  French  China,  at  that  very- 
interesting  but  most  pestilential  locality,  Saigon. 
We  were  received  with  the  greatest  kindness  by  the 
Sous-Gouverneur  at  the  French  Government  House,  a 
palatial  residence  worthy  rather  of  an  emperor  than 
a  governor,  compared  to  which  Government  House 
at  Hong-Kong  seemed  but  a  cottage.  Yet  even 
there  life  was  hardly  bearable  even  under  an  electric 
fan.  The  heat  was  stifling.  It  had  been  impossible 
to  drive  out  except  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  and 
so  we  were  entertained  by  being  taken  by  night  to 
see  our  first  glimpse  of  Chinese  civilisation,  for  the 
Chinese  once  dominated  this  country,  and  have  left 
their  civilisation  behind  them. 

Driving  back,  our  French  host  regaled  us  with 
stories  of  the  people,  and  incidentally  mentioned 
the  great  power  which  Christianity  has  in  these 
colonies.     We  were  much  impressed  by  his  testi- 


CHANGING  CHINA 


mony  to  the  efficiency  of  mission  work,  for  the 
French  official  is  far  from  favourable  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  He  told  us  not  only  was  a  large 
part  of  the  country  round  Saigon  Christian,  but 
Christianity  was  such  a  vital  thing  that  the  Church 
had  no  difficulty  in  getting  sufficient  money  to  build 
splendid  churches.  Next  day  I  called  on  the  Bishop. 
He  was  a  splendid  type  of  Roman  Catholic  missionary, 
with  his  white  beard  and  his  courtly  manners.  We 
found  several  such  in  our  wanderings,  for  Catholic 
missions  are  spread  all  over  China,  and  have  been 
founded  many  years.  He  spoke  of  the  great  suc- 
cess of  the  work,  and  thought  that  the  hostility  of 
the  French  Government  was  in  some  ways  prefer- 
able to  their  patronage,  for  the  personal  lives  of 
many  of  the  officials  are  far  from  admirable.  Their 
morality  would  better  befit  our  Restoration  Period 
than  the  twentieth  century.  A  Governor's  mistress 
was  a  person  recognised  and  courted  by  official  society, 
and  it  was  perhaps  to  the  advantage  of  the  mission 
that  in  the  native  mind  Christianity  was  dissociated 
from  such  evil  doings. 

I  asked  him  how  he  supported  the  climate, 
which  we  had  found  barely  endurable  for  two  days. 
He  replied  that  the  climate  was  quite  cool  *  to  the 
missionary  who  lived  a  chaste  and  temperate  life, 
but  that  the  Government  found  it  terrible  for  their 
officials.  This  may  be  quite  true,  but  still  I  think 
chaste  and  temperate  Englishmen  would  find  the 
climate  of  Saigon   intolerable.     We  do  not  make 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS  185 


sufficient  allowance  in  speaking  of  a  healthy  or  un- 
healthy climate  for  the  origin  of  the  missionary.  If 
he  comes  from  Marseilles  in  the  South  of  France,  it 
is  not  perhaps  wonderful  that  he  should  find  the 
countries  which  are  not  hotter  than  his  native  land 
in  the  summer  quite  tolerable. 

The  history  of  Catholic  missions  is  apparently 
to  be  divided  into  three  periods.  The  first  period 
terminates  in  1742  and  commences  with  the  first 
mission  of  the  Jesuits  under  Father  Ricci  in  1584. 
During  this  period  the  Roman  Catholic  missions, 
directed  by  a  series  of  men  of  extreme  ability, 
endeavoured  and  nearly  succeeded  in  converting 
China  from  the  top  downwards,"  for,  owing  to 
their  wonderful  scientific  attainments,  the  mis- 
sionaries received  important  posts  under  the  Chinese 
Gov^nment.  The  fall  of  the  Ming  dynasty  and  the 
conquest  of  China  by  the  Manchus  only  served  to 
improve  their  position  ;  they  directed  not  only  the 
Government  astronomical  observatory,  but  they  even 
superintended  the  arsenal  and  became  the  carto- 
graphers of  the  empire.  They  had  many  adherents 
chiefly  among  the  learned.  Christianity,  like  Con- 
fucianism, had  commended  itself  to  the  intellect  of 
the  country.  In  pursuit  of  this  policy  they  endea- 
voured to  harmonise  Christianity  with  the  thought 
of  the  literati  of  China ;  such  a  process  was  no  doubt 
extremely  dangerous,  but  they  thought  that  it  was 
possible  to  tolerate  ancestor  worship  and  the  ado- 
ration of  Confucius ;   whether  they  were  right  or 


i86  CHANGING  CHINA 


whether  they  were  wrong,  while  they  did  it  Chris- 
tianity had  many  educated  adherents. 

Another  kind  of  missionary  next  appeared  in 
China,  the  Dominicans,  who  made  up  in  fanaticism 
for  what  they  lacked  in  wisdom.  These  men  offended 
every  prejudice  of  the  Chinese ;  they  taught  the 
harshest  and  narrowest  form  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
doctrine.  The  foot  was  to  be  made  to  fit  the  shoe, 
and  not  the  shoe  to  fit  the  foot.  There  were  riots 
and  troubles,  and  the  Dominicans  blamed  the  highly 
placed  Jesuits  and  freely  accused  them  of  having 
denied  the  faith  and  of  having  accepted  high  office 
as  the  reward  for  unfaithfulness.  Appeals  were  made 
to  Rome.  Rome,  many  thousands  of  miles  away, 
wavered,  unable  probably  to  understand  either  the 
controversy  or  its  importance.  The  heroism  of  mis- 
sionaries travelling  over  miles  of  sea  and  being  ship- 
wrecked in  their  endeavours  to  reach  Rome  reads  like 
a  romance.  But  in  1742  the  matter  was  finally 
settled  by  Benedict  XIV.  in  a  Bull  Ex  quo 
singulari,"  and  the  Jesuits  were  defeated — a  defeat 
which  was  completed  by  their  suppression  in  China 
in  1773. 

With  their  defeat  the  Roman  missions  entered 
on  the  second  period  of  their  history.  They  were  no 
longer  directed  by  very  able  men,  and  they  became 
rather  the  Church  of  the  poor  than  of  the  rich. 
They  experienced  constant  persecution,  and,  to  gain 
weight  and  position,  they  finally  accepted  the  French, 
who  were  then  in  the  zenith  of  their  power,  as  their 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS  187 


patrons.  Such  a  course  necessarily  involved  that 
they  must  do  all  they  could  to  further  the  French 
interests,  and  the  Boman  Catholic  missions  became 
more  and  more  an  adjunct  of  French  diplomacy, 
defended  by  France  and  on  their  side  advancing 
the  interests  of  the  French.  It  is  impossible  to  say 
exactly  when  this  policy  began.  Louis  XIV.  had 
sent  large  gifts  to  the  Emperor  of  China,  but  he 
does  not  seem  to  have  had  any  intentions  beyond 
giving  countenance  and  weight  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
missions.  Some  one  pointed  out  to  Napoleon  I.  the 
great  value  of  China,  and  the  man  of  great  ideas, 
always  dreaming  of  that  Empire  in  the  East  which  he 
was  never  to  found,  clearly  thought  there  was  some- 
thing to  be  made  of  this.  He  helped  the  missionary 
societies  with  funds  —  it  is  curious  to  think  of 
Napoleon  I.  as  the  supporter  of  foreign  missions. 
This  act  came,  like  most  other  French  secrets  of 
the  time,  to  the  ears  of  Pitt ;  and  he  managed  that 
the  information  should  reach  the  Emperor  of  China, 
and  sent  through  a  safe  channel  advice  that  the 
Emperor  of  China  should  look  upon  the  Roman 
missions  as  dangerous  and  France  as  a  *'  wicked 
power."  Whether  this  advice  would  have  been 
taken  to  heart  or  not  is  doubtful.  Roman  missions 
were  unpopular  in  China ;  still  they  had  powerful 
friends;  but  the  discovery  of  one  of  their  mis- 
sionaries with  maps  of  China  intended  for  the  use  of 
foreign  countries  convinced  her  of  the  truth  of  the 
English  suggestion,  and  Roman  missions  were  put 


i88 


CHANGING  CHINA 


down  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century 
with  a  relentless  hand.  In  1840  there  broke  out 
the  first  foreign  war  between  China  and  the  West, 
and  after  this  Catholic  missions  became  more  and 
more  an  appanage  of  French  policy.  Whether  the 
French  had  distantly  intended  the  conquest  of  China, 
or  whether  they  merely  looked  upon  China  as  an 
outlet  for  her  trade,  they  used  the  Catholic  mis- 
sions as  a  means  whereby  French  interests  should 
be  pushed.  Certainly  the  author  of  Les  Missions 
Catholiques  Fraiifaises  does  not  hesitate  to  suggest 
that  France  was  rewarded  for  the  protection  of 
missions  by  an  increased  trade. 

In  1842,  as  the  result  of  a  war,  a  treaty  was 
signed  to  which  we  have  before  referred,  and  in  1860 
it  was  followed  by  another.  Both  gave  missionaries 
extensive  rights.  Can  you  wonder  that  the  peace- 
loving  Chinaman,  looking  back  on  history,  finds  it 
difficult  to  understand  why  the  preachers  of  the 
gospel  of  love  should  have  been  so  often  followed  by 
the  armies  and  fleets  of  the  military  races  of  the 
West  ?  The  coping  stone  to  this  policy  of  propagating 
Christianity  by  the  power  and  influence  of  a  foreign 
nation  was  placed  by  an  edict  which  just  preceded 
the  Boxer  movement.  That  edict  astonished  even 
the  Roman  Catholics,  for  the  author  of  Les  Missions 
Catholiques  Fran^aises  au  XIX.  Siecle  speaks  of  the 
extraordinary  surprise  it  was  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
body.  This  edict  ordained  that  bishops  ai^d  priests 
should  have  official  rank  in  China ;  that  the  bishops 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS  189 


should  be  equal  in  rank  to  viceroys  and  governors, 
and  the  vicars-general  and  the  arch -priests  should  be 
equal  to  treasurers  and  judges,  while  the  other  priests 
should  be  equal  to  prefects  of  the  first  and  second 
class  ;  and  that  if  any  question  of  importance  arose  in 
connection  with  the  missions,  the  bishop  or  mission- 
aries should  call  in  the  intervention  of  the  Minister  or 
Consul  to  whom  the  Pope  had  confided  the  protection 
of  the  Catholics.  The  edict  closes  with  three  injunc- 
tions. First,  that  the  people  in  general  were  to  live  at 
peace  with  the  Catholics ;  secondly,  that  the  bishops 
should  instruct  the  Catholics  to  live  at  peace  with  the 
rest  of  the  world ;  and  lastly,  that  the  judges  should 
judge  fairly  between  Catholics  and  non-Catholics. 

This  edict  can  perhaps  be  regarded  rather  as  a  vic- 
tory of  French  diplomacy  than  of  the  Roman  Church. 
French  diplomacy  had  converted  the  whole  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  work  into  an  agency  for  the  national 
aggrandisement  of  France ;  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  had  sold  herself  to  the  French  Government ; 
her  old  traditional  policy  of  employing  the  powers 
of  this  world  to  propagate  Christianity  had  involved 
her  in  this  position ;  and  she  had  presented  Chris- 
tianity to  her  converts  as  something  which,  how- 
ever great  its  spiritual  gain,  had  also  very  real  tem- 
poral advantages.  The  Church  was  a  great  society 
which  would  defend  you  in  this  world  just  as  it  would 
give  you  promises  of  security  in  the  world  to  come. 
So  she  had  instituted  a  regular  system  by  which  her 
adherents  were  defended  in  any  lawsuit  or  attack. 


I90  CHANGING  CHINA 


This  interference  in  lawsuits  was,  however,  not 
peculiar  to  the  Eoman  Catholics.  It  is  an  old 
Chinese  custom — a  custom  in  which  both  Romans 
and  other  denominations  have  acquiesced ;  still  it 
was  exaggerated  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  till 
it  brought  down  upon  her  the  anger  of  the  Chinese 
ofiScial  world. 

It  is  hard  for  a  Westerner,  with  his  ideas  of  an 
independent  court  of  justice,  to  comprehend  the 
system.  A  lawsuit  is  not  regarded  in  China  as  a 
thing  to  be  settled  simply  on  its  merits.  They  are 
only  a  factor  in  the  decision.  The  general  desire  is 
that,  if  all  things  are  equal,  justice  shall  be  done  ; 
but  together  with  justice  the  judge  has  to  consider 
the  social  position  of  the  litigants  and  their  power  of 
vengeance  or  of  reward.  The  best  analogy  to  a 
Chinese  lawsuit  is  an  English  election.  If  you  read 
the  speeches  and  addresses  you  will  conceive  that  the 
whole  desire  of  a  candidate  engaged  in  an  English 
election  is  that  justice  should  be  done,  but  in  prac- 
tice you  soon  discover  that  the  influence  of  individuals 
has  to  be  considered  as  well.  A  candidate  who 
always  disregards  justice  is  universally  condemned ; 
but  a  candidate  who  wilfully  offends  powerful 
people,  who  is  not  prepared  to  give  and  take,  to 
sacrifice  a  conviction  here,  to  push  forward  a  little 
beyond  the  line  of  justice  there,  is  equally  unable  to 
gain  the  suffrages  of  the  voters ;  and  in  China  the 
judge  stands  in  the  same  position  as  the  candidate 
does  in  England.    If  he  is  convinced  that  a  certain 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS  191 

cause  is  backed  by  very  powerful  people  who  can 
secure  him  a  better  appointment  and  a  higher  salary, 
or  who  if  angered  might  even  succeed  in  getting  him 
dismissed  from  his  post,  he  decides  the  case  in  that 
litigant's  favour.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  parties 
are  about  equally  matched  in  influence  and  power, 
like  the  English  candidate  he  then  considers  the 
justice  of  the  case ;  and  therefore  the  first  thing  a 
litigant  does  is  to  try  and  secure  all  the  influential 
support  within  his  reach.  Chinese  officials  told  me 
that  they  have  to  have  their  cards  printed  with  "  for 
visiting  purposes  only"  written  on  them,  otherwise 
they  are  stolen  and  used  without  their  knowledge  in 
the  furtherance  of  some  lawsuit,  and  English  Pro- 
testant missionaries  confirmed  the  story. 

Though  this  interference  in  lawsuits  is  a  universal 
custom,  its  extreme  use  is  peculiar  to  the  Roman 
Catholics.  To  attack  a  Roman  Catholic  was  to 
bring  the  whole  strength  of  his  mission,  with  the 
diplomacy  of  France  behind  it,  against  you.  It  was 
in  furtherance  of  this  policy  that  the  Roman  Catholics 
were  anxious  to  hold  official  rank.  An  official  will 
not  speak  to  any  one  below  his  rank ;  the  missionary 
finds  access  to  the  Viceroys  very  difficult ;  but  if  the 
Roman  Hierarchy  had  this  high  official  rank,  the 
Bishop  had  only  to  pay  a  visit  in  his  green  official 
chair,  when,  by  the  strict  etiquette  of  China,  he  must 
be  received  with  all  politeness,  and  his  visit  must  be 
returned.  To  procure  these  privileges  the  Roman 
I    Catholics  were  prepared  to  sell  to  France  the^large 


192  CHANGING  CHINA 

and  undoubted  influence  they  had  among  many 
thousands  in  China.  There  is  a  certain  poetic  justice 
in  the  Koman  Catholic  Church  suflering  from  the 
actions  of  the  French  Government  at  home. 

Still  justice  compels  us  to  remember  that  they 
have  not  been  alone  in  this  policy.  Missionaries 
of  other  faiths  and  other  lands  have  both  relied  on 
the  defence  of  foreign  powers  and  have  interfered 
with  the  lawsuits  of  their  converts.  A  Protestant 
missionary  from  the  Southern  States  of  America 
frankly  defended  the  system.  He  boldly  asserted 
that  non-interference  in  a  lawsuit  w^ould  be  simply 
misunderstood  by  the  Chinese.  When  he  was  young 
he  had  absolutely  refused  to  interfere  in  a  case  where 
a  widow  was  Ijeing  oppressed,  and  a  non-Christian 
Chinese  gentleman  had  interviewed  him,  and  after 
some  circumlocution,  had  remonstrated  with  him  on 
his  hardness  of  heart,  that  he,  a  teacher  of  the  re- 
ligion of  love,  should  neglect  the  widow  in  her 
necessity.  Still,  the  Roman  Church,  as  in  Ireland, 
as  in  France,  as  in  Italy,  is  an  institution  which  is 
essentially  political ;  and  the  traditional  policy  of  the 
Roman  Church  has  been  followed  in  China  with  the 
invariable  result,  first,  that  when  the  power  of  the 
State  is  used  to  promote  her  tenets  she  grows  strong, 
and  next  when  that  power  is  withdrawn  or  becomes 
hostile  she  feels  the  loss  of  the  earthly  support  on 
w^hich  she  has  relied  and  apparently  grows  weaker. 
This  is,  however,  only  transitory  ;  the  Roman  Church, 
for  instance,  is  growing  stronger,  not  weaker,  now 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS  193 

that  she  has  lost  the  support  of  French  diplomacy,  and 
the  missions  have  entered  upon  their  third  epoch  when 
they  are  preaching  Christianity  without  any  special 
support  of  a  foreign  government  and  are  succeeding. 
For  there  are  few  bodies  of  people  in  this  world  who 
are  more  heroic  and  devoted  than  the  Roman  mis- 
sionaries ;  they  have  died  by  fever,  have  been 
massacred,  they  live  on  a  miserable  pittance ;  I  was 
told  that  one  enlightened  missionary,  once  a  Professor 
in  Paris  University,  lived  on  £12  a  year ;  and  their 
heroism  and  self-denial  reaps  a  large  reward. 

Their  most  beautiful  and  most  successful  works 
are  the  orphanages  which  they  maintain.  They 
accept  any  of  those  children  whom  the  Chinese 
mothers  cast  out  to  die,  either  because  of  their 
poverty  or  because  they  are  girls.  These  children 
are  brought  up  with  infinite  care  and  kindness,  and 
are  taught  embroidery,  lace-making,  and  other  trades. 
No  more  beautiful  sight  can  be  seen  than  one  of  these 
orphanages,  with  the  happy  children  hard  at  work  and 
rejoicing  as  only  Chinese  rejoice  in  pleasant  labour. 
When  these  children  grow  up  they  are  married 
to  Christians,  and  from  them  springs  a  native 
Christian  population,  which  has  never  known  any  of 
the  horrors  of  heathenism.  As  a  rule  they  live  in 
small  societies.  I  believe  there  is  an  island  on  the 
Yangtsze  which  is  entirely  peopled  by  Christians. 
The  work  may  be  great,  but  the  cost  is  great  too. 
Many  a  life  has  been  laid  down  so  that  these 
children  might  be  Christians. 

N 


194  CHANGING  CHINA 

I  recall  one  scene  at  Ichang.  There  rises  near 
the  town  a  great  orphanage,  and  when  we  visited 
it,  we  found  the  French  sisters  looking  weary  and 
whiter  than  their  white  robes.  An  epidemic  of  small- 
pox had  broken  out  in  the  orphanage,  and  out  of 
140  orphans,  28  had  died  of  small-pox,  besides  which 
the  sisters  had  suffered  themselves  from  malaria. 
One  could  but  admire  the  devotion  of  these  women 
living  far  off  from  their  own  country,  tending 
children  whom  no  one  else  would  tend,  and  gaining 
as  their  reward  hatred  and  misunderstanding  from 
the  Chinese.  A  Bishop  belonging  to  this  mission  had 
been  murdered,  and  a  lay  brother  told  me  that  it 
was  because  they  were  accused  of  stealing  children 
to  make  Western  medicine  out  of  their  eyes.  This 
strange  slander  arises  apparently  from  the  desire,  which 
is  not  understood  by  the  Chinese,  to  save  and  preserve 
the  lives  of  other  people's  children.  Chinese  ethics 
have  no  place  for  such  altruism.  Your  duty  never 
extends  beyond  your  own  relations,  either  by  blood 
or  from  official  position.  There  is  another  reason, 
however,  for  this  notion.  The  Roman  Catholics  have  a 
system  of  native  agents  who  are  prepared  to  baptize 
any  child,  whether  of  heathen  or  Christian  parents, 
who  is  dying.  This  system  is  very  well  organised. 
Some  of  these  agents  perambulate  districts  and  some 
remain  at  fixed  points.  Perhaps  not  unnaturally  the 
Chinese  cannot  understand  this  methodical  search  for 
dying  children,  and  as  a  reason  must  be  found,  and  as 
thto  reason  that  seems  most  probable  to  the  Chinese 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS  195 

mind  is  some  form  of  personal  gain,  they  have  invented 
this  slander. 

Whether  we  approve  or  disapprove  the  general 
action  of  the  Roman  Catholics — and  our  feelings  are 
probably  very  mixed  on  this  subject — we  must  re- 
cognise that  they  are  a  very  great  factor  in  the 
change  that  is  coming  over  China.  For  centuries 
they  have  stood  before  the  Chinese  as  associating 
with  Christianity  the  science  and  the  knowledge 
the  Chinese  have  always  admired.  The  wonderful 
work  done  by  the  Jesuits  of  the  eighteenth  century 
has  established  a  tradition  of  excellent  scientific  work 
which  is  well  maintained  by  the  learned  brothers  of 
the  Ziccawei  Observatory.  Many  hundreds  of  lives 
have  been  saved  at  sea  by  the  splendid  meteorological 
service  they  have  organised,  and  the  sailor  who  cares 
nothing  for  Roman  or  for  Protestant  walks  down  on 
the  Bund  to  see  what  the  Ziccawei  brothers  can  tell 
him  about  the  probability  of  a  typhoon.  The  benefit 
of  their  service,  though  great,  is  not  limited  to  the 
number  of  lives  of  mariners  that  their  science  pre- 
serves ;  their  science  is  an  object-lesson  to  the 
Chinese — an  object-lesson  especially  useful  at  a  time 
when  materialism  is  taunting  Christianity  with  ob- 
scurantism. 

Missionaries  in  the  field  do  not  entirely  recognise 
the  connection  that  exists  between  their  own  work 
and  the  work  of  other  denominations.  The  man  on 
the  mission  field  sees  his  bit  of  work,  and  realises  that 
it  is  a  failure  or  that  it  is  a  success,  but  he  does  not 


196  CHANGING  CHINA 

realise  how  intimately  associated  that  success  or 
failure  is  with  world  movements  over  which  he  has 
but  the  very  slightest  control.  These  world  move- 
ments are  dependent  on  many  factors  that  must  be 
beyond  his  direct  knowledge,  and  one  of  the  factors 
that  influence  the  success  of  Protestant  missions  is 
the  wide  influence  of  Catholic  work.  Conversely 
every  new  Protestant  mission  that  opens  the  door 
of  a  school  or  a  college  probably  tends  to  augment 
the  number  of  Poman  Catholics  in  China.  The 
question  put  to  the  Chinaman  is  not,  "  Will  you  be 
Roman  or  Protestant  ? "  That  was  the  question  that 
was  put  to  the  European  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  question  is,  Will  you  become  a  materialist  or 
a  Christian  ? "  And  the  answer  he  makes  must  be 
largely  aftected  by  his  experience  of  the  intellectual 
efficiency  and  high  moral  tone  of  those  he  calls 
Christians.  I  despair  of  persuading  my  Protestant 
friends  that  the  reputation  of  the  Ziccawei  brothers 
is  a  valuable  asset  in  evangelical  work,  and  I  equally 
despair  of  persuading  the  Roman  Catholic  that  the 
splendid  educational  establishments  of  American  Pro- 
testantism is  one  of  the  reasons  why  their  numbers 
are  increasing  by  leaps  and  bounds ;  but  the  China- 
man would  probably  think  the  remark  self-obvious. 

How  small  the  difierences  appear  that  we  think 
so  profound  was  first  brought  home  to  me  as  we 
passed  through  the  Red  Sea  on  the  French  mail  in 
company  with  a  body  of  Coptic  schoolmasters  who 
w^re  goiiig  to  civilise  Menelik's  subjects  in  Abyssinia. 


ROMAN  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS  197 

As  it  was  Sunday  morning  these  young  men  came  up 
to  me  to  ask  an  explanation  of  the  ceremony  of  ship 
inspection  which  is  performed  with  some  pomp  by 
the  French  captain  on  that  day.  With  a  wholly 
exaggerated  idea  as  to  the  religiosity  of  the  French 
they  had  concluded  that  this  was  a  Christian  cere- 
mony, and  when  I  had  explained  to  them  that  on 
a  French  ship  it  was  illegal  to  have  a  service,  they 
were  distressed,  for  they  explained  that  though  they 
had  been  educated  in  many  different  quarters,  they 
were  all  in  agreement  on  religious  matters.  One  had 
been  educated  in  the  Protestant  College  in  Beyrout, 
and  another  had  been  educated  in  the  Jesuit  College 
at  Cairo,  which,  he  added  in  explanation,  is  practically 
the  same  thing.  This  statement  would  be  regarded 
as  accurate  by  the  average  Chinaman. 

At  any  rate,  no  one  can  doubt  the  importance  of 
Roman  Catholic  work  in  China.  They  now  claim  to 
have  over  a  million  of  adherents,  served  by  nearly  two 
thousand  priests,  and  when  one  reads  that  they  declare 
that  they  have  made  in  Peking  alone  thirty-three 
thousand  converts  in  one  year,  one  realises  what  a 
power  they  are  in  the  Christianisation  of  China.  In 
the  West  such  figures  would  mean  the  downfall  of  Pro- 
testantism, but  in  China  such  figures  mean  the  growth 
of  a  common  Christianity  which  all  denominations  can 
influence  and  in  which  all  denominations  can  have  a 
share.  Remember,  though  a  million  Christians  sounds 
a  vast  number,  it  is  small  compared  with  the  four  hun- 
dred millions  who  now  form  the  population  of  China. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


OTHER  MISSIONS 

Though  the  Roman  Catholic  missions  were  first  in 
the  field  by  several  centuries,  it  must  not  be  supposed 
that  they  are  now  the  only  Christian  influence  at 
work.  The  work  of  other  bodies  is  extensive  and 
very  important.  The  pioneer  society  was  the  London 
Mission,  which  began  work  under  Dr.  Morrison  in 
1807.  Very  soon  after  them  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society  began  work  in  1812.  But  no  great 
mission  work  was  undertaken  till  after  the  treaty  of 
1842.  Then  society  after  society  sprang  up.  One 
of  the  earliest  was  the  Church  of  England  Missionary 
Society,  which  has  a  very  extensive  work,  especially 
in  Eastern  China.  Among  the  earliest  of  its  mis- 
sionaries were  the  two  veteran  brothers,  Bishop 
Moule  and  Archdeacon  Moule,  who  have  for  half  a 
century  ordered  its  ranks  with  courage  and  self- 
denial.  The  Presbyterian  Mission  was  not  long 
behind  them,  and  the  American  Methodist  Missions 
began  work  practically  at  the  same  time ;  and  so 
missions  have  gone  on  increasing  till  there  are  over 
sixty  missions,  over  and  above  the  Roman  Catholic 
Missions,  at  work  in  China,  with  a  stafi"  of  over 

three  thousand  five  hundred  white  workers  and  a 

198 


OTHER  MISSIONS  199 

body  of  converts  numbering  over  a  quarter  of  a 
million. 

The  people  who  are  opposed  to  missions  will 
immediately  say  what  a  regrettable  thing  it  is  that 
Christianity  should  present  such  a  picture  of  division 
to  the  heathen,  and  they  will  probably  find  a  great 
number  of  people  who  are  sympathetically  inclined  to 
missions  and  who  cordially  agree  with  them.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  it  would  be  far  better  if  the 
Christian  Church  presented  a  picture  of  unity  to  the 
whole  world.  It  would  be  far  better  that  we  should 
all  think  alike ;  but  if  we  cannot  think  alike,  it  would 
be  a  great  mistake  to  seek  for  unity  by  encouraging 
people  to  suppress  their  convictions.  Unity  is  very  valu- 
able, but  it  can  never  be  so  valuable  as  are  truth  and 
honesty.  Far  better  to  accept  the  truth  and  say  that 
there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  rather  than  by  denying 
the  truth  and  concealing  the  divisions  that  really  exist 
to  give  a  false  appearance  of  unity.  If  this  is  true  of 
other  parts  of  the  world,  it  is  even  more  true  of  China. 
Her  national  tendency  is  to  regard  conviction  as  of 
little  importance,  and  on  the  other  hand  to  lay  great 
stress  on  uniformity.  Perhaps  one  should  say  that 
this  is  the  natural  result  of  an  autocratic  govern- 
ment. Autocratic  government  natiurally  encourages 
the  doctrine  that  everybody  should  agree  with  the 
autocrat.  Now  the  advance  of  the  West  has  been 
accomplished  by  encouraging  liberty  of  opinion, 
therefore  the  people  who  are  to  expound  the  great 
doctrines  of  Western  civilisation  rightly  appear  before 


200 


CHANGING  CHINA 


the  Chinese  world  showing  a  great  diversity  of 
view. 

It  is  most  regrettable  when  liberty  is  exchanged 
for  tyranny,  when  the  acceptance  of  one  opinion 
involves  the  persecution  of  another,  when  Christians 
not  only  differ  but  persecute  and  thwart  each  other's 
efforts.  This  may  be  an  evil  in  our  own  land,  an 
evil  which  we  hope  will  soon  pass  away,  but  in  China 
that  evil  does  not  exist  except  between  the  Koman 
and  the  non-Roman  bodies. 

There  are  great  differences  of  opinion.  The  ex- 
treme Ritualist  position  is  ably  represented  in  China, 
the  ultra-Protestant  position  has  equally  able  repre- 
sentatives, and  I  have  seen  them  uniting  in  the 
Shanghai  Conference  in  defence  of  the  Apostles' 
Creed  against  a  Latitudinarian  attack.  To  the 
Chinese  I  think  they  present  not  the  aspect  of 
different  bodies  opposing  one  another,  but  rather 
different  regiments  of  the  same  army  intent  on 
overthrowing  the  same  enemy  ;  and  though  they  are 
clothed  in  a  different  uniform  and  use  different 
weapons  they  serve  under  the  same  general. 

The  American  bodies  are  far  the  richest.  Whether 
it  is  that  the  United  States  is  a  richer  country  than 
England,  or  whether  it  is  that  they  are  more  liberal 
in  their  gifts  to  missions,  or  whether  it  is  that  they 
are  more  inclined  to  spend  their  money  on  Chinese 
missions,  the  result  is  certain,  the  American  missions 
have  every  advantage  that  money  can  give.  Their 
splendid  educational  establishments  are  a  feature  in 


A  RAILWAY  STATION— NEW  STYLE 


OTHER  MISSIONS 


20I 


many  towns.  If  the  American  missions  have  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  EngUsh  missions  in  money,  both  British 
and  American  missions  have  an  equal  right  to  claim 
that  they  have  as  representatives  in  China  a  body 
of  self-denying  and  enthusiastic  men.  It  would  be 
invidious  to  make  any  reference  to  the  excellence  of 
any  special  mission.  Among  the  British  missions, 
the  London  Mission  claims  indeed  the  greatest  number 
of  converts,  though  the  Church  Missionary  Society 
does  not  come  far  behind  it.  Again,  the  Presby- 
terian Missions  and  the  China  Inland  Mission  have  a 
large  and  growing  work.  The  latter  is  a  most  curious 
development  of  missionary  policy.  The  missionaries, 
differing  in  many  doctrinal  particulars,  have  agreed 
to  co-operate  under  the  name  of  China  Inland  Missions 
in  the  west  of  China  ;  they  have  agreed  not  to  oppose 
each  other  in  any  way,  and  to  give  each  other  mutual 
support.  They  are  under  the  head  of  a  director  who 
organises  and  arranges  their  separate  provinces.  A 
great  feature  of  this  scheme  is  that  they  effect  a 
large  saving  in  the  expenses  of  mission  work  by  co- 
operation. A  white  man  cannot  live  in  many  districts 
in  China  without  a  supply  of  medicines  and  some 
Western  comforts ;  they  arrange  for  the  forwarding 
of  these  things,  and  help  the  missionaries  in  their 
journeys. 

Bishop  Cassels  is  at  once  a  member  of  this  mission 
and  of  the  C.M.S.  He  is  a  splendid  example  of  the 
courage  that  is  necessary  for  missionary  work.  He 
has  been  through  the  Gorges  of  the  Yangtsze  twenty 


CHANGING  CHINA 


times.  Once  he  was  unwise  enough  to  forsake  the 
small  native  boat  in  which  he  habitually  travels  and 
to  entrust  himself  to  a  steamer,  which,  under  the 
pilotage  of  a  German  captain,  was  going  to  attempt 
the  rapids.  They  did  very  well  till  they  happened 
to  bump  on  a  rock,  when  the  captain  lost  his  head, 
and  instead  of  beaching  her,  he  tried  to  anchor.  The 
water  surged  in  and  soon  put  out  his  fires,  thus  pre- 
venting him  from  raising  his  anchor,  with  the  result 
that  the  ship  gradually  filled  and  sank  and  the 
passengers  had  to  swim  for  their  lives. 

The  S.P.G.  Mission  is  excellently  manned,  but 
suffers  much  from  want  of  pecuniary  support.  I 
cannot  help  feeling  that  if  it  was  but  once  realised 
how  important  it  is  that  the  capital  of  China, 
whither  resort  all  the  intellectual  and  ambitious  men 
of  China,  should  thoroughly  understand  the  logical 
position  and  the  reverent  worship  of  the  Church  of 
England,  that  the  necessary  funds  would  be  forth- 
coming. It  is  most  desirable  that  China  should 
understand  that  there  is  a  via  media  between  Rome 
and  Protestantism. 

Without  wishing  in  any  way  to  detract  from  the 
necessity  for  missions  to  other  parts  of  the  world,  we 
may  point  out  that  China  has  at  this  moment  a  very 
special  claim.  No  one  would  say  that  the  mission 
work  in  India  or  in  Africa  demands  within  the 
next  few  years  that  the  intellectual  side  of  Chris- 
tianity should  be  thoroughly  explained,  but  this  is 
actually  the  case  in  China.    The  intellectual  men  of 


OTHER  MISSIONS  203 

China  who  gather  together  at  Peking  are  now  de- 
manding to  know  what  truth  there  is  in  Christianity. 
They  must  be  answered  by  men  as  intellectual  as 
themselves,  who  will  be  able  with  courtesy  and  force 
to  convince  them  that  Christianity  is  a  religion  that 
is  thoroughly  consistent  both  with  modern  science 
and  with  the  intellectual  progress  of  the  world. 

No  better  mission  to  undertake  that  work  can  be 
conceived  than  the  North  China  Mission  of  the 
Church  of  England.  This  mission,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Bishop  Scott,  represents  with  dignity  the 
tolerant  and  reverential  attitude  of  the  Church  of 
England.  One  cannot  help  thinking  that  if  he  had 
a  sufficiently  liberal  support,  so  that  he  could  have  a 
college  where  he  could  undertake  the  education  of  some 
of  those  future  statesmen  of  China  who  are  desiring 
to  understand  Western  things,  that  his  mission  might 
be  the  means  of  encouraging  a  movement  towards 
Christianity  among  the  scholars  and  statesmen  of 
China.  That  distinguished  Baptist  missionary,  Dr. 
Timothy  Richard,  told  me  that  he  thought  that  the 
dignity  of  the  Church  of  England,  especially  as  so 
ably  represented  by  Bishop  Scott,  might  be  a  great 
asset  in  convincing  the  Chinese  literati  that  Chris- 
tianity was  a  religion  which  would  harmonise  with 
their  love  of  order  and  dignity. 

Of  missions  of  other  nations  we  saw  one  or  two 
examples,  but  they  are  few  in  number  if  you  except 
the  Roman  Catholic  Missions.  It  is  rather  a  pity 
that  the  Scandinavian  Missions  do  not  throw  all  their 


204  CHANGING  CHINA 

effort  into  work  in  Manchuria  ;  few  races  would  endure 
the  bitter  cold  of  Manchuria  better  than  they,  and 
Manchuria  is  readier  to  accept  Western  ideas  than 
perhaps  any  other  part  of  China.  She  has  felb  and 
realised  the  pressure  of  the  "West,  she  has  suffered 
under  the  burden  of  Russian  domination,  she  has 
seen  the  Westernised  armies  of  conquering  Japan 
put  to  flight  the  northern  invader.  As  we  stood  on 
the  203  Metre  Hill  and  realised  on  that  shattered 
hill-top  how  Manchuria  has  seen  the  full  force  of 
the  destructive  power  of  Western  civilisation ;  as  we 
counted  the  wrecks  that  then  lay  at  the  mouth 
of  the  harbour ;  as  we  looked  at  each  shattered 
homestead,  yes,  and  at  the  bones  that  were  still 
unburied,  we  felt  that  the  great  land  of  Manchuria 
has  a  special  need  that  some  one  should  show  her 
that  Western  civilisation  can  indeed  produce  some- 
thing more  lovely  than  shells  and  bayonets. 

I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  say  that  a  splendid  work 
is  being  carried  on  by  the  Presbyterian  Missions ; 
they  have  shown  to  the  Northern  Chinese  another 
form  of  courage  than  that  which  was  shown  by  the 
warriors  of  Russia  and  J apan.  Two  stories  remain  in 
my  mind  among  many.  First  a  story  of  the  old  days 
before  Russia  had  made  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway, 
before  the  Japanese  had  for  the  first  time  taken  Port 
Arthur.  A  British  mission  doctor  was  at  work.  The 
Chinese,  more  suo,  had  determined  to  get  rid  of  this 
example  of  the  mercy  of  Western  civilisation.  They 
did  not  dare  to  kill  him  openly,  so  they  sent  a 


OTHER  MISSIONS  205 

messenger  who  feigned  to  have  come  from  a  sick 
man  out  in  the  country.  The  doctor  and  his  Chinese 
dresser,  unconscious  of  the  plot,  readily  obeyed  the 
summons.  They  noticed  that  a  child  followed  them, 
and  they  did  their  best  to  induce  him  to  go  home,  but 
he  would  not.  When  they  arrived  at  the  village  inn 
they  discovered  that  the  sick  man  did  not  exist. 
They  were  in  doubt  what  to  do,  when  suddenly  the 
door  was  thrown  open  and  several  of  the  soldiers 
of  the  Viceroy's  bodyguard  rushed  in,  and  seizing 
the  two,  they  declared  that  they  had  stolen  a  child 
to  make  medicine  out  of  his  eyes.  They  then  pro- 
ceeded to  torture  the  doctor  by  tying  his  hands 
behind  his  back  and  suspending  him  by  them  to 
the  roof  Such  was  the  agony  that  the  doctor  lost 
consciousness.  They  then  took  him  down,  and  he 
was  put  into  a  loathsome  Chinese  prison,  where  he 
was  exposed  to  mental  torture  as  severe  as  the 
physical  torture  which  he  had  already  endured. 
He  was  told  that  he  would  be  beheaded,  and  every 
preparation  was  made,  and  then  at  the  last  moment 
he  was  taken  back  to  the  prison.  This  was  repeated 
till  they  thought  they  had  shattered  his  nerve,  and 
then  he  was  allowed  to  go  free.  With  that  calm 
courage  which  has  so  often  characterised  the  action 
of  the  members  of  the  missionary  body  he  returned  to 
his  work  fearless  of  death  and  torture. 

Another  story,  which  has  its  humorous  side,  was 
also  told  us.  At  the  time  of  the  Russian  occupa- 
tion o*f  Newchwang,  the  Russians  had,  as  we  have 


2o6  CHANGING  CHINA 


described  above,  been  pacifying"  the  town,  and  a 
crowd  of  terrified  Chinese  had  taken  refuge  in  the 
Presbyterian  Mission  compound,  where  there  was 
only  one  lady.  She,  however,  came  from  Belfast,  and 
had  all  the  courage  of  the  Northern  Irish  in  her  veins. 
A  body  of  Russian  soldiers  came  towards  the  mission 
with  the  intention  of  shooting  the  Chinese.  She  took 
a  horsewhip  in  her  hand,  and  regardless  of  the  loaded 
rifle  or  the  bloody  bayonet,  commenced  to  belabour  the 
soldiers  with  it.  There  are  some  things  which  are 
understood  by  all  nations,  and  the  use  of  the  horse- 
whip was  at  once  appreciated  by  the  Russians,  who 
fled  before  her,  leaving  her  a  victor  and  the  saviour 
of  her  Chinese  friends. 

I  know  people  say  that  women  should  not  be 
exposed  to  the  risks  of  a  missionary's  life,  but  the 
answer  is  that  were  women  not  employed,  half  the 
mission  work  would  be  left  undone  and  the  heroism 
with  which  women  have  endured  death  and  danger  has 
been  no  small  factor  in  the  spread  of  Christianity  and 
in  producing  the  change  in  China. 


CHAPTER  XVII 


THE  EFFECT  OF  WESTERN  LITERATURE  IN  CHINA 

Among  the  influences  that  have  awakened  China,  out- 
side the  great  lesson  of  political  events,  none  has  been 
more  influential  than  literature  in  its  many  branches. 
The  Chinese  have  always  been  a  literary  race.  They 
invented  printing  about  the  same  time  that  the 
savage  Saxons  welcomed  the  first  book  written  by 
the  Venerable  Bede,  and  the  influence  of  literature 
has  therefore  held  sway  many  hundred  years  in 
China.  But  for  the  last  six  hundred  years  there 
have  not  been  many  works  of  original  thought  pro- 
duced in  native  literature.  Most  of  their  writings 
have  been  commentaries  on  the  Classics  following 
along  the  beaten  paths,  or  works  of  poetry  full  of 
references  to  the  Shi-King  or  the  classic  poetry  of 
the  Chinese.  The  literature  of  China  is  characteristic 
of  her  civilisation.  It  is  confined  by  an  artificiality 
which  has  its  origin  in  an  inordinate  respect  for  the 
past  and  an  absolute  distrust  of  the  future.  Every 
book  looks  backward  to  the  period  when  China's 
thought  was  pure  and  great. 

This  period  continued  till  the  Anglo-Saxon  in- 
fluence made  itself  felt  through  its  missions.  Very 
early  in  the  history  of  Protestant  missions  it  was 

ao7 


2o8  CHANGING  CHINA 


perceived  that  in  a  country  like  China  some  other 
appeal  must  be  made  than  could  be  made  by  the 
white  missionary.  A  nation  reverencing  the  printed 
page  to  such  a  degree  that  men  will  carefully  pick 
up  a  piece  of  paper  and  put  it  on  one  side  rather  than 
trample  it  heedlessly,  for  fear  lest  that  piece  of  paper 
should  contain  words  of  wisdom,  is  obviously  a  nation 
that  can  best  be  reached  through  printed  matter,  and 
so  Dr.  Morrison,  the  pioneer  of  Protestant  missions, 
devoted  the  greater  part  of  his  missionary  life  to 
translating  the  Holy  Scriptures.  The  matter  was  not 
so  simple  as  might  appear  to  those  who  are  only 
conversant  with  the  civilisation  of  younger  and  less 
artificial  races  than  the  Chinese.  It  is  not  enough 
to  translate  a  work  into  Chinese  ;  the  spoken  language 
is  nowhere  used  for  literature.  The  literary  language 
commonly  called  Wenli  probably  never  was  spoken, 
and  is  so  full  of  artificial  rules  of  construction  that 
it  is  only  after  many  years  that  a  man  can  hope  to 
write  it  efficiently.  Chang-Chih-Tung  says  that  it 
requires  ten  years  for  a  Chinaman  to  become  an 
efficient  translator.  That  does  not  mean  that  it  takes 
ten  years  for  a  Chinaman  to  learn  English,  but  ten 
years  for  a  man  to  be  able  to  put  into  good  Chinese 
the  thoughts  that  he  has  learned  from  the  West. 

The  written  language  of  China,  it  should  be  re- 
membered, is  not  a  language  in  which  sounds  are 
portrayed  by  means  of  signs  as  it  is  with  Western 
languages.  Each  character  represents  an  idea,  the 
only  analogy  in  our  language  being  the  numerals  and 


EFFECT  OF  WESTERN  LITERATURE  209 

some  few  signs  we  have  for  simple  words  such  as 
"cross"  or  "and."  Therefore  when  new  ideas  are 
developed  new  signs  are  required.  These  can  be 
created  out  of  old  signs.  For  instance,  I  understand 
that  a  railway  engine  is  called  a  fire  carriage.  This, 
by  the  way,  caused  great  confusion  of  mind  in  a 
certain  district  to  the  Christian  converts  who  were 
conversant  with  the  story  of  Elijah,  for  some  of  them 
erroneously  concluded  that  Elijah  left  this  earth  in 
a  railway  train. 

Another  instance  of  the  difficulty  of  expressing 
new  things  was  afforded  when  a  certain  mission 
started  work  in  China.  They  were  in  some  perplexity 
as  to  the  title  that  they  should  choose  for  their 
society.  They  wanted  to  convey  to  the  Chinese  that 
their  denomination  claimed  especially  to  feed  the  souls 
of  men.  They  explained  all  this  to  an  educated  China- 
man, and  quoted  some  well-known  texts.  He  im- 
mediately wrote  down  two  characters,  and  assured 
them  that  they  represented  what  they  had  said 
about  the  spiritual  food  that  they  provided,  and 
would  also  be  very  popular  with  the  Chinese,  as 
indeed  it  proved.  The  moment  they  opened  the  door  of 
the  chapel  they  were  besieged  by  hundreds  of  Chinese 
of  the  poorer  class,  who,  after  listening  for  a  short  time, 
went  away  discontentedly.  The  missionaries  found  out 
afterwards  that  the  title  they  had  been  given  literally 
translated  was  "  Health-giving  Free  Restaurant,"  a 
most  attractive  title  to  the  hungry  Chinaman. 

There  is  indeed  another  way  of  representing  new 

o 


2IO  CHANGING  CHINA 

words.  The  word  can  be  borrowed  bodily  from 
another  language  and  pronounced  in  a  Chinese  way, 
and  the  word-signs  which  best  represent  the  sounds 
can  then  be  employed.  This  is  often  done  with  proper 
names.  For  instance,  a  great  Chinese  statesman  told 
me  that  he  referred  to  Sir  Edward  Grey  in  his 
despatches  to  China  by  three  signs  which  had  the 
three  sounds  Ga  La  Hay,  but  this  system  is  obviously 
open  to  misconstruction,  because  the  reader  might  be 
tempted  to  give  the  words  their  normal  meaning.  I 
believe  that  such  terms  as  X-rays  and  ultimatum 
have  been  so  adopted  bodily  into  the  Chinese  lan- 
guage. Ninety  per  cent.,  however,  of  the  new  word- 
signs  which  go  to  make  up  what  the  Chinese  call 
modern  style  are  new  combinations  of  ancient  ideo- 
graphs. 

One  of  the  pioneers  in  this  translation  work  said 
at  the  Shanghai  Conference  that  the  first  thing  a 
missionary  had  to  do  before  he  could  convert  the 
people  was  to  convert  the  language.  Until  he  had 
invented  a  new  set  of  word-sounds  to  convey 
Christian  ideas,  the  preaching  of  Christianity  laboured 
under  the  very  greatest  disadvantage.  The  "  term 
controversy,"  that  is,  the  controversy  as  to  what  sign 
should  be  chosen  to  signify  the  Christian  s  God,  was 
an  example  of  this.  It  arose  first  in  the  Roman  Com- 
munion and  afterwards  gave  great  trouble  to  other 
Communions.  The  choice  lay  between  three  terms 
— one  signifying  originally  Supreme  Ruler,"  one 
"  Heaven,"  and  the  last  "  Spirit,"  none  of  which  quite 


EFFECT  OF  WESTERN  LITERATURE  211 


expressed  our  idea  of  God.  What  Christians  felt  was 
felt  by  other  translators  also,  and  one  of  the  great 
causes  of  advance  in  China  has  been  the  formation 
of  a  language  which  can  now  thoroughly  express  all 
the  ideas  that  are  characteristic  of  the  West.  Many 
of  these  word-signs  come  from  Japan.  Japan,  using 
the  same  written  script  as  China,  and  having  accepted 
Western  thought,  is  more  easily  able  to  compose 
the  word-sign  necessary  for  its  expression,  and  it 
is  in  this  way  among  many  others  that  the  influence 
of  Japan  will  be  very  important  if  not  paramount  in 
far  Eastern  countries. 

Every  missionary  body  has  tried  to  produce 
Christian  literature ;  the  great  difficulty  has  been  to 
get  the  translator.  The  method  usually  employed  is 
to  get  a  Chinese  graduate,  too  often  not  a  Christian, 
and  to  make  him,  under  careful  supervision,  write 
down  the  phrases  rendered  by  the  missionary  into 
Chinese.  Even  so  the  difficulties  are  very  great. 
The  object  of  literature  is  differently  understood 
in  the  West  and  in  the  East.  A  Chinese  scholar 
who  was  very  conversant  with  both  languages  ex- 
plained the  difficulties  by  the  following  anecdote. 
Engrossed  in  the  study  of  Western  knowledge  he 
had  neglected  his  Chinese  literature,  and  was  in 
imminent  danger  of  failing  in  his  examination. 
Happily  for  him  the  night  before  his  examination 
he  read  a  classical  author  much  admired  by  con- 
noisseurs but  not  much  read  owing  to  his  great 
obscurity  of  expression.     A  particularly  recondite 


212 


CHANGING  CHINA 


phrase  dwelt  in  his  memory  because  it  had  cost 
him  so  much  trouble  to  discover  its  meaning.  Next 
day  he  used  the  phrase  in  his  paper,  and  when  his 
paper  was  returned  to  him  with  the  marks  of  the 
examiner  upon  it,  it  was  obvious  that  it  was  this 
phrase,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  the  marks  of  his 
examiners  approbation,  which  had  been  the  means 
of  his  passing  that  examination.  Subsequently  he 
went  to  Chicago  University.  "  There,"  he  said, 
with  the  quiet  humour  of  a  Chinaman,  learnt 
that  the  object  of  an  essay  was  to  convey  an  idea 
in  as  simple  a  manner  as  possible.  This  is  not  the 
Chinese  plan." 

One  of  the  pioneers  in  this  work  was  the  body 
which  is  now  called  the  Christian  Literature  Society 
for  China.  Assisted  by  a  brilliant  staif,  Dr.  Timothy 
Richard  has  produced  a  great  mass  of  excellent  work 
which  has  profound  influence  on  thought  in  China. 
No  better  test  can  be  found  of  the  wonderful  work 
that  they  have  done  than  the  fact  that  the  greatest 
statesman  that  China  possessed,  and  also  her  greatest 
Confucianist  scholar,  should  refer  to  one  of  their  pub- 
lications. The  Review  of  the  Times,  as  one  of  the 
causes  of  China's  enlightenment.  The  Christian 
Literature  Society  has  not,  however,  been  the  only 
labourer  in  the  field.  Good  work  has  been  done 
by  the  Religious  Tract  Society,  which  has  depots  in 
various  parts  of  China  for  the  sale  of  good  literature ; 
and  there  have  been  other  societies  which  have  also 
published  books,  including  the  Mission  Press,  belong- 


EFFECT  OF  WESTERN  LITERATURE  213 

ing  to  the  Roman  Catholics,  which  is  situated  at 
Hong-Kong. 

But  in  speaking  of  Christian  literature  we  must 
not  forget  the  various  Bible  Societies  which  have 
done  such  varied  and  excellent  work  in  China,  chief 
among  which  has  been  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society.  Far  beyond  where  the  white  missionary 
could  reach,  the  productions  of  this  Society  have 
penetrated ;  even  right  across  the  deserts  of  Mongolia 
have  their  colporteurs  carried  their  wares.  Of  the 
conversations  which  I  had  with  various  Chinese  gentle- 
men one  was  especially  remarkable  as  a  testimony 
to  their  activity.  My  interlocutor  was  one  of  those 
fat  lazy  men  who  enjoy  the  good  things  of  life  and 
care  but  little  for  serious  matters,  and  yet  I  was 
surprised  to  find  that  he  was  obviously  acquainted 
with,  at  any  rate,  some  of  the  tenets  of  the  Christian 
faith,  and  I  wondered  how  this  indolent  man  had 
obtained  such  knowledge.  I  felt  certain  that  his 
dignity  would  never  have  permitted  him  to  have 
talked  to  a  Christian  missionary,  much  less  to  have 
listened  to  a  Christian  sermon.  At  last  he  inci- 
dentally mentioned  that  though  a  Confucianist  he 
was  well  acquainted  with  the  Gospel  of  St.  Mark. 
I  could  not  well  ask  him  how  he  had  obtained  it, 
but  no  doubt  it  had  come  to  him  through  the  means 
of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society. 

We  happened  upon  another  example  of  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Bible  Society.  We  were  coming  down 
on  the  boat  from  Canton,  and,  walking  on  the  Chinese 


214 


CHANGING  CHINA 


deck,  I  saw  a  man  smoking  opium  and  reading  an 
English  book.  As  I  saw  he  knew  EngUsh,  I  addressed 
him ;  under  the  influence  of  opium,  he  was  wonder- 
fully communicative.  The  book  turned  out  to  be  St. 
John's  Gospel,  and  he  was  reading  about  our  Lord's 
Crucifixion.  He  had  only  picked  it  up  because  he 
wanted  to  improve  his  English,  but  he  was  deeply  im- 
pressed by  it,  and  his  comments  were  most  interesting. 
He  asked  me  whether  it  was  true  that  when  our 
Lord  was  crucified  He  had  stood  alone  against  all 
the  power  of  the  Jews  and  the  Romans,  and  when 
he  received  an  answer  in  the  affirmative,  he  added, 
"  Then  He  must  have  been  Divine,  for  no  man  who 
was  not  Divine  could  have  stood  alone."  To  the 
Chinese  mind,  which  is  incapable  of  any  separate 
action,  which  is  powerless  unless  it  has  the  moral 
support  of  the  Government,  of  a  Guild,  or  even  of 
a  secret  society,  the  story  of  the  Crucifixion  appeals 
most  strongly  as  an  example  of  Divine  strength  of 
purpose.  This  strange  contrast  between  the  opium- 
smoker  and  the  Bible  was  typical  of  China.  The 
forces  of  good  and  evil  were  wrestling  together  for 
the  possession  of  that  man's  life ;  the  forces  of  good 
having  been  put  into  his  hands  no  doubt  by  the 
instrumentality  of  some  Bible  Society. 

But  the  good  work  that  has  been  directly  done 
by  all  these  societies  has  been  greatly  augmented 
by  the  good  work  that  they  have  done  indirectly 
through  the  medium  of  some  of  their  converts.  A 
body  of  Christian  young  men  determined  to  start 


EFFECT  OF  WESTERN  LITERATURE  215 

a  publishing  house  on  their  own  account,  the  object 
of  which  should  be  that  the  published  books,  both 
translations  and  original  works,  should  best  convey 
to  the  Chinese  mind  lofty  and  noble  ideas  in  Western 
thought.  If  these  books  were  not  intended  to  be 
definitely  propagandist  they  were  at  least  calculated 
to  teach  the  ethical  system  of  Christianity.  The  work 
of  the  Shanghai  Commercial  Press  has  had  a  great 
influence  on  the  thought  of  China ;  from  thence 
has  issued  forth  a  mass  of  literature  both  for 
schools  and  for  the  general  public  which  has  intro- 
duced Western  thought  to  the  Chinese.  Many  of 
our  standard  authors  have  been  translated,  and  the 
Chinaman,  moved  by  his  love  of  literature,  is  now 
becoming  intimately  acquainted  with  every  literary 
activity  of  our  civilisation.  When  one  looks  at  those 
strange  word-signs  it  seems  hard  to  believe  that  any 
one  could  read  them  with  ease  and  rapidity ;  yet 
Chinamen  say,  though  writing  is  a  matter  of  great 
difficulty  and  requires  much  time,  reading  the  charac- 
ters is  quicker  than  reading  our  system  of  printing, 
each  idea  being  conveyed  by  one  sign,  instead  of,  as 
in  our  language,  by  many  letters. 

These  signs  are  apparently  things  to  which  senti- 
ment attaches.  We  heard  a  most  interesting  debate 
at  the  Conference  of  the  Anglican  Church  at  Shang- 
hai as  to  the  title  by  which  the  Anglican  body  should 
be  generally  known,  and  it  was  instructive  to  watch 
the  differences  between  the  views  of  the  English  and 
the  Chinese  minds  on  the  question,  as  the  debate 


CHANGING  CHINA 


was  translated  by  a  most  able  interpreter,  Mr.  T'sen. 
We  began  with  what  threatened  to  be  a  rather 
dreary  Anglo-Saxon  debate  between  the  High  and 
the  Low  Church.  One  felt  the  old  atmosphere  of 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  century  of  English 
history  very  present  in  the  room.  The  debate  was 
on  the  question  as  to  whether  the  word  Catholic " 
should  form  part  of  the  title.  I  need  not  detail 
the  arguments  that  were  advanced  on  both  sides ; 
they  are  too  well  known.  Then  we  turned  to  the 
Chinese  translation,  and  at  once  the  fires  of  Smith- 
field  and  the  thunders  of  the  Reformation  disappeared 
as  by  magic,  and  the  blue-robed  men  from  all  parts 
of  China  woke  up  to  an  interest  that  was  as  extra- 
ordinary as  it  was  instructive.  We  gathered,  by 
means  of  our  interpreter,  two  or  three  most  inter- 
esting facts.  First,  there  was  unanimity  in  the  room 
that  the  title  should  not  in  any  way,  indirectly  or 
by  allusion,  convey  the  idea  that  the  Anglican 
Church  had  anything  to  do  with  England.  The 
view  of  China  for  the  Chinese  obviously  commanded 
the  assent  of  all  in  the  room  ;  even  those  who  had 
been  influenced  the  other  way  by  their  teachers,  had 
to  allow  that  the  word  Anglican  would  be  fatal  to 
the  popularity  of  the  Church.  When  The  Holy 
Catholic  Church  of  China"  was  proposed  as  a  title, 
it  was  suggested  by  the  white  men  that  it  savoured 
of  insolence,  as  implying  that  the  other  communions 
did  not  belong  to  it.  This  met  with  no  favour  from 
the  Chinese.    Their  argument  was  simple ;  we  are 


EFFECT  OF  WESTERN  LITERATURE  217 

all  going  to  be  one  body  in  a  short  time,  so  the  others 
can  share  in  our  title  if  it  is  a  good  one,  and  if  it  is 
not,  we  can  share  theirs.  Then  there  was  this  feel- 
ing, which  it  was  impossible  for  a  stranger  to  appre- 
ciate, that  each  ideograph  had  a  sentiment  attached 
to  it,  and  that  therefore  the  title  must  be  composed 
of  ideographs  which  had  not  merely  a  suitable  mean- 
ing but  also  a  beautiful  association.  In  the  end  they 
adopted  for  their  title  the  ideographs  that  are  used  in 
the  Creed  for  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  not  mean- 
ing thereby  that  they  were  the  only  branch  of  the 
Catholic  Church  in  China,  but  that  they  were  a 
true  branch  of  the  Catholic  Church.  There  was 
another  point  made  obvious  to  the  onlooker,  a  point 
which  will  be  dealt  with  further  on  in  this  book, 
namely,  that  owing  to  the  different  policies  of  the 
missions,  the  American  body  dominated  in  debate 
because  they  were  represented  by  an  extremely  able 
body  of  Chinamen,  while  the  English  missions  had 
as  Chinese  representatives  only  men  of  ordinary 
education. 

But  to  return  to  the  question  of  literature. 
Though  literature  has  been  instrumental  in  dis- 
seminating both  the  truths  of  Christianity  and  the 
noble  ethical  teaching  of  the  West,  it  has  also  been 
instrumental  in  disseminating  much  that  is  evil  and 
corrupt  in  Western  literature.  Perhaps  it  is  not 
extraordinary  that  the  Japanese  bookseller  finds 
that  the  erotic  novel  from  Paris  sells  more  freely 
when  translated  than  the  English  story  whose  whole 


2i8  CHANGING  CHINA 


motive  depends  on  a  proper  comprehension  of  the 
Christian  ethical  position.  The  Dame  aux  Camelias, 
by  Dumas,  is  the  most  popular  of  the  Western  works, 
and  one  cannot  but  tremble  to  think  what  incalculable 
injury  such  stories  will  do  to  a  nation  which  does 
not  understand  the  relative  positions  in  which  those 
works  are  held  by  men  of  high  character  in  the 
West.  Chang-Chih-Tung  refers  in  one  of  his  works 
to  the  apparent  immorality  of  Western  thought ; 
and  if  we  grant  that  books  like  these  are  typical  of 
Western  thought,  we  shall  not  be  able  to  wonder  at 
his  conclusion.  Through  the  distorted  medium  of 
such  translations  Western  civilisation  must  seem 
wholly  detestable.  The  Chinaman  will  naturally 
say,  Your  boasted  morality  is  merely  a  hypocritical 
covering  for  a  profligacy  which  we  should  never  permit 
in  our  land." 

Not  only  are  French  novels  translated,  but  all  the 
works  which  Western  thought  has  produced  against 
the  Christian  faith.  Haeckel's  Riddle  of  the 
Universe"  is  a  typical  example.  In  literature,  as 
in  every  other  department  of  life  in  China,  two 
elements  of  Western  civilisation  strive  for  mastery. 
On  one  side  there  are  arrayed  the  powers  of  Chris- 
tianity and  the  interpretation  of  Western  civilisation 
as  a  product  of  Christian  thought ;  on  the  other 
side  lies  materialism,  and  the  explanation  of  Western 
civilisation  as  a  natural  result  of  evolution  which  is 
developing  an  irreligious  but  most  comfortable  world. 
If  China  listens  to  the  first,  she  will  become  like  other 


EFFECT  OF  WESTERN  LITERATURE  219 

nations,  a  great  power,  not  only  rich,  but  honourable, 
true,  and  merciful,  the  result  of  the  teaching  of 
Christian  faith  and  ethics.  If  she  listens  to  the 
second,  the  efficiency  of  China  will  be  rendered 
terrible  by  a  low  morality,  which  will  not  only 
desolate  and  depress  many  millions,  but  even  have 
a  deleterious  effect  on  the  West  which  so  mist  aught 
her. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 


MEDICAL  MISSIONS 

After  literature  perhaps  we  should  place  medical 
missions  as  one  of  the  most  effective  ways  of 
placing  before  the  Chinese  the  difference  between 
our  civilisations  and  of  showing  them  the  truth  and 
beauty  of  Christianity.  There  are  three  or  possibly 
four  reasons  why  medical  missions  are  a  right  and 
effective  way  of  conducting  the  Christian  propa- 
ganda. First,  they  are  an  object-lesson  of  the  love 
which  Christianity  inculcates.  In  school  teaching 
we  find  that  the  object-lesson  is  the  most  efficient 
and  easiest  way  of  getting  the  human  mind  to 
understand  a  quite  new  idea ;  medical  missions  are 
object-lessons  of  the  essential  character  of  Christian 
teaching.  Chinese  ethics  are  very  distinct  in  limit- 
ing the  duty  of  man  to  certain  well-known  relations. 
They  are  five  in  number  :  the  relation  of  the  sovereign 
and  minister,  of  the  husband  and  wife,  of  the  father 
and  son,  of  the  elder  and  younger  brother,  and  of 
friends.  No  Confucian  recognises  the  universal  brother- 
hood of  man ;  that  is  solely  a  Christian  doctrine. 
Thus  Confucius  reproves  the  man  who  wishes  to 
ofier  sacrifices  to  some  one  else's  forefathers ;  that 
appears  to  him  to  be  as  officious  as  the  duty  of 

tao 


MEDICAL  MISSIONS  221 

offering  sacrifices  to  his  own  ancestors  is  important ; 
a  man  has  no  obligations  to  any  one  else  but  to  those 
who  stand  to  him  in  one  of  these  five  relations. 
Very  different  is  the  tone  of  the  Apocrypha,  which 
is  not  of  very  different  date,  and  which  puts  burial 
of  the  dead  among  one  of  the  first  duties  of 
man  without  specifying  the  necessity  of  any  close 
relationship. 

The  action  of  missionaries  in  coming  to  China 
was  therefore  wholly  misunderstood  by  the  Chinese. 
They  were  regarded  as  merely  the  emissaries  of 
foreign  powers,  sent  to  spy  out  the  land.  Consider- 
ing the  way  in  which  the  Roman  Catholic  missions 
did  as  a  fact  identify  themselves  with  the  foreign 
policy  of  France,  one  cannot  altogether  wonder  that 
the  Chinese  attributed  to  their  mission  the  selfish 
principles  they  themselves  would  have  followed. 
The  first  purpose,  therefore,  served  by  medical 
missions  is  to  demonstrate  to  the  Chinese  that 
Christianity  has  higher  ideals  than  Confucianism. 

Their  second  great  object  is  one  that  must  appeal 
to  the  heart  of  everybody  who  has  been  in  China. 
It  is  impossible  to  work  among  the  Chinese  without 
being  rendered  miserable  by  the  appalling  amount 
of  suffering  and  misery  that  exists  at  the  present 
day.  The  poverty  of  England  cannot  be  spoken 
of  in  the  same  breath  nor  can  in  any  way  be 
compared  with  the  poverty  of  China.  Deplorable 
as  is  the  condition  of  many  individuals  in  England, 
harsh  as  is  the  action  of  some  of  our  casual  wards, 


222  CHANGING  CHINA 

any  one  who  has  studied  both  will  freely  allow  that 
the  poor  in  England  are  rich  compared  to  the  poor 
in  China.  Among  the  vast  crowd  that  wanders 
along  the  North  Eoad  to  London,  you  will  scarcely 
see  one  without  boots ;  there  is  scarcely  one  who 
does  not  get  a  piece  of  bread  to  eat  when  he  is 
hungry ;  there  are  none  who  are  suffering  from  un- 
tended  wounds  or  unalleviated  sickness.  The  work- 
house infirmary  will  always  open  its  doors,  however 
harsh  the  Guardians,  to  those  who  are  absolutely 
ill.  But  in  China,  starvation  is  quite  common. 
Missionaries  tell  you  how  at  certain  junctures  they 
have  travelled  along  a  road,  passing  man  after  man 
lying  at  the  point  of  death,  and  those  who  are  sick 
have  too  often  no  resource  but  to  await  with  patience 
the  pain  and  death  they  foresee  as  their  fate.  The 
missionary  feels,  as  he  preaches  the  doctrine  of 
love,  that  he  cannot  consistently  ignore  these 
suffering  multitudes. 

The  third  reason  why  medical  missions  are  main- 
tained is  because  they  are  a  means  of  approaching 
people  who  otherwise  would  not  hear  the  Christian 
truth.  The  man  who  has  successfully  healed  the 
body  has  some  reasonable  hope  to  expect  that 
the  patient  will  accept  that  medicine  that  he  offers 
to  cure  the  soul.  So  medical  missions  have  been 
started  in  every  place.  We  visited  many  excellent 
medical  missions,  from  chilly  Mukden  to  torrid 
Canton.  There  are  many  stories  told  how  in  the 
days  when   the  Chinese  would  not  listen  to  mis- 


MEDICAL  MISSIONS  223 

Bionaries,  the  medical  missionary  obtained  that 
hearing  which  was  refused  to  his  clerical  brothers. 
I  was  told  one  medical  missionary  found  that  the 
moment  that  he  was  extracting  teeth  was  the 
moment  when  he  could  best  advance  his  teaching. 
I  have  never  heard  the  story  substantiated ;  unless 
the  Chinese  are  very  different  from  us,  one  would 
have  thought  that  the  teaching  would  have  had 
a  distinctly  painful  association.  Perhaps  he  took 
as  his  thesis  the  extraction  of  sin  from  the  char- 
acter. His  success  was  equalled  by  that  non-medical 
missionary  who  had  the  advantage  of  having  a  set 
of  false  teeth ;  these  he  used  to  take  out  before 
the  astonished  coolies  and  replace  them ;  then  having 
attracted  their  attention  by  this  manoeuvre,  he  took 
up  his  parable  on  the  need  for  taking  away  their 
sins  from  them  and  for  putting  new  life  into  them. 

The  Chinese  coolie  loves  a  jest,  and  once  he  is 
on  the  laugh  he  will,  unlike  his  English  brother, 
be  much  more  inclined  to  attend  to  serious  teach- 
ing. One  of  the  missionaries  who  understands  this 
trait  of  the  Chinese  best  is  Dr.  Duncan  Main  of 
Hangchow,  where  we  spent  two  most  interesting 
days  seeing  his  hospitals  and  work  and  visiting 
his  patients. 

There  is  no  better  testimony  to  his  great  work 
than  his  obvious  popularity.  Wherever  he  goes 
there  are  smiles  and  greetings.  He  explains  as  we 
walk  who  are  the  individuals  who  salute  him.  That 
great  fat  man  who  stands  bowing  and  smiling  is  a 


224  CHANGING  CHINA 


merchant  of  some  wealth ;  his  wife  has  been  in  the 
hospital ;  she  has  been  tended  by  Dr.  Main  and  by  his 
skill  has  been  cured.  That  old  woman  who  stands  by 
him  smiling  is  another  ex-patient.  That  young  man 
with  an  intellectual  face  and  a  dark  robe  is  an  old 
medical  student,  now  a  doctor  himself  with  a  large 
practice,  and  he  has  settled  near  Dr.  Main's  hospital. 
And  so  his  work  increases  and  grows  and  the  good  he 
does  must  live  after  him.  He  takes  us  into  the  out- 
patients' room  ;  they  are  a  motley  crowd,  with  strap- 
pings and  bandages  on  various  parts  of  their  persons. 
While  they  are  sitting  there  a  lay-reader  expounds  to 
them  the  elements  of  Christian  teaching.  What  a 
contrast  to  their  minds  must  be  the  plain  forcible 
teaching  and  the  simple  effective  remedies  and  medi- 
cines of  the  Christians  to  the  incantations  and  nauseous 
compounds  of  their  native  doctors.  There  is  a  great 
doubt  as  to  what  is  the  nature  of  many  of  the  Chinese 
drugs.  They  always  prescribe  a  vast  number,  many  of 
which  are  apparently  innocuous  in  their  effect ;  they 
always  give  them  in  large  quantities,  and  do  not  in  any 
way  attempt  to  isolate  and  extract  the  active  properties 
of  the  things  they  use.  You  see  a  man  eating  a  large 
bowl  of  some  nauseous  compound  and  you  are  told  he 
is  taking  Chinese  medicine.  You  ask  a  captain  what 
his  cargo  consists  of,  and  he  tells  you  that  it  is  largely 
made  up  of  Chinese  medicine.  Some  of  the  medicine 
seems  to  be  prescribed  on  the  principle  of  our  old 
herbals ;  that  is,  there  is  a  fancied  resemblance  be- 
tween the  plant  and  the  disease.     Others  seem  to 


MEDICAL  MISSIONS  225 

come  from  well-known  remedies  administered  in 
various  ways ;  ground-up  deer's  horns  from  the 
mountains  of  Siberia  has  probably  much  the  same 
effect  as  chalk  has  in  our  pharmacopoeia.  But  there 
also  seems  to  be  some  possibility  that  the  Chinese 
doctors  have  certain  useful  remedies  which  are  un- 
known to  Western  medicine. 

There  is  a  strange  story  told  in  Shanghai  about  a 
certain  remedy  for  a  horrible  disease  called  "  sprue." 
The  story  is  well  known  to  every  resident  in  Shanghai, 
still  it  will  bear  repetition.  A  certain  quack  called 
**  French  Peter  " — I  do  not  know  his  proper  name — 
habitually  cured  sprue.  Cases  which  English  doctors 
had  absolutely  failed  to  cure,  and  which  threatened 
ruining  a  career  or  loss  of  life,  he  cured  in  a  few 
weeks.  He  had  two  remedies — a  white  powder  and  a 
black  draught.  He  himself  was  a  most  unattractive- 
looking  man.  My  informant  told  me  that  his  career 
was  being  threatened  by  this  horrible  disease,  and  that 
he  was  expecting  to  leave  China  in  a  week  or  two, 
when  some  one  suggested  that  he  should  try  "  French 
Peter."  When  they  met,  "French  Peter's"  appear- 
ance was  so  unprepossessing  that  the  sick  man's 
courage  nearly  failed  him.  He  had  been  for  weeks 
on  a  milk  diet,  and  the  first  thing  that  the  man  said 
to  him  was,  Look  here,  take  these  medicines  and  go 
and  have  a  good  beefsteak  for  luncheon."  He  decided 
to  try  them.  He  ate  his  beefsteak,  he  took  the  white 
powder  and  the  black  draught,  and  I  think  within 
three  weeks  was  quite  well.     "  French  Peter  "  would 


226 


CHANGING  CHINA 


never  tell  his  secret  or  where  he  got  his  remedies ;  at 
least  he  used  to  give  different  accounts  to  different 
people.  'I  believe  he  is  now  dead,  but  on  talking  the 
matter  over  with  some  Chinese  friends  they  assured 
me  that  the  remedies  were  well  known  to  Chinese 
doctors,  and  that  "  French  Peter  "  had  got  them  from 
one  of  their  compatriots. 

Dr.  Main  deals  with  his  patients  in  the  same 
cheery  way  that  he  addresses  every  one ;  a  word  or 
two  suffices  to  discover  the  nature  of  their  ailment. 
If  the  case  is  very  serious,  the  patient  is  detained  for 
further  examination ;  if  it  is  trivial,  it  is  attended  to 
at  once  by  a  native  dresser.  For  the  rest  he  himself 
prescribes. 

Then  he  takes  us  up  to  the  wards,  and  explains 
that  the  great  difficulty  is  to  get  the  Chinese  to  care 
for  cleanliness.  That  is  the  same  story  in  every 
hospital ;  they  cannot  believe  it  matters  very  much 
whether  the  thing  is  kept  clean  or  not.  The  medical 
students  will  proceed  to  handle  anything  after  they 
have  washed  their  hands  and  think  that  the  previous 
washing  insures  asepticism,  regardless  of  the  fact  that 
they  have  touched  many  septic  things. 

Dr.  Main's  hospital  is  typical  of  mission  hospitals — 
Dr.  Christie's  hospital  at  Mukden,  Dr.  Gillison's  at  Han- 
kow, Dr.  Cochrane's  at  Peking,  and  many  others.  There 
are  also  hospitals  for  women.  We  saw  many ;  the  first 
we  visited,  the  Presbyterian  Hospital  at  Canton,  was  a 
good  example,  impressing  us  not  only  by  its  efficiency, 
but  also  by  the  great  service  it  performed  to  the  suffering 


MEDICAL  MISSIONS  227 

masses  of  China  by  training  women  doctors,  who  are 
permitted  to  minister  to  their  sisters  when  etiquette 
does  not  permit  of  male  medical  attendance.  The 
lady  who  showed  us  round  the  hospital  spoke  English 
fluently  ;  she  was  dressed  in  the  dress  of  the  Cantonese 
woman,  which  suited  her  profession  admirably,  as  it  con- 
sisted of  a  long  black  coat  and  trousers.  Some  hospitals 
are  reserved  for  the  very  poor;  at  Nanking,  for  in- 
stance. Dr.  Macklin  showed  us  over  his  beggar  hospital. 
He  follows  the  parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan  most 
literally,  and  wherever  he  finds  a  poor,  starving,  dying 
man,  he  brings  him  in.  Clearly  he  cannot  afford  any- 
thing but  a  limited  accommodation  for  these  poor 
creatures,  but  he  is  on  the  whole  most  successful,  and 
there  is  many  a  man  whom  poverty  had  brought  near 
to  death  whose  life  he  has  saved.  As  one  looked  at 
those  types  of  suffering  humanity  and  realised  the 
good  that  Dr.  Macklin  was  doing,  one  felt  that  the 
days  of  saintly  service  were  not  over  yet. 

Another  beautiful  work  is  Dr.  Main's  leper  hos- 
pital at  Hangchow.  It  was  a  weird  and  strange 
experience  to  hear  those  lepers  singing  our  old 
English  hymns.  Leprosy,  as  my  readers  doubtless 
know,  does  not  often  leave  open  sores ;  it  slowly  eats 
away  the  body  while  it  leaves  the  skin  intact ;  and 
BO  you  see  men  without  hands  and  arms  yet  with  finger 
nails  upon  the  stump,  blind  men  without  noses,  and 
very  commonly  men  whose  voices  are  cracked  and 
broken.  These  lepers  are  housed  in  an  old  temple, 
in  one  of  the  most  beautiful  situations  in  China — a 


228  CHANGING  CHINA 


situation  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  original  of  the 
landscape  on  the  old  willow  pattern  plates ;  and  the 
beauty  of  their  surroundings  contrasts  strangely  with 
their  hideous  forms  and  harsh  voices.  There  was  an 
infinite  pathos  when  by  that  blue  lake  and  purple 
mountain,  those  harsh  but  plaintive  voices  sang  the 
old  tune  of  "  Jesu,  lover  of  my  soul "  ;  and  though  we 
could  not  follow  the  Chinese  words,  the  faces  of 
these  poor  sufferers  were  eloquent  in  expressing  how 
fully  they  felt  the  meaning  of  that  hymn. 

But  above  all  we  should  mention  the  great  work  that 
is  being  carried  on  by  Dr.  Cochrane  at  Peking.  He  has 
managed  to  induce  all  the  medical  missions  in  Peking 
to  unite  in  founding  a  great  hospital — a  hospital  which 
has  received  the  approval  of  Government.  This  suc- 
cessful example  of  federation  has  solved  a  difficult 
problem.  No  doubt  the  efficiency  of  medical  missions 
in  many  a  town  is  impeded  by  their  want  of  unity. 
A  mission  body  will  open  a  medical  mission,  and  will 
send  out  a  doctor  or  even  two  in  charge  ;  one  doctor 
must  go  on  his  furlough,  another  is  perhaps  ill,  and 
the  result  is  that  the  mission  is  closed.  The  com- 
mercial community  are  rather  ready  to  point  out 
that  the  mission  hospital  is  closed  in  the  summer 
when  there  is  the  greatest  need  for  it.  The  answer 
to  the  taunt  is  the  policy  of  federation.  While  it 
is  next  to  impossible  to  keep  open  the  mission  hos- 
pitals in  an  unhealthy  climate  with  a  limited  staff, 
it  is  perfectly  possible  to  do  it  if  the  staff  is  increased. 
Every  doctor  in  Central  and  Southern  China  must 


MEDICAL  MISSIONS  229 

have  a  certain  period  of  rest,  otherwise  he  will  not 
be  able  to  stand  the  enervating  effects  of  a  semi- 
tropical  climate ;  and  however  possible  it  is  to  keep 
white  men  at  work  for  three  or  four  years  without 
a  holiday,  and  I  know  commercial  people  claim  that 
this  has  been  done  in  certain  individual  instances, 
it  is  in  reality  the  very  poorest  economy.  The 
mission  doctor  is  far  too  valuable  a  person  to  have 
his  life  cast  away  by  such  a  foolish  policy  of  ex- 
travagance. He  must  have  his  rest  every  year 
and  his  furlough  every  seven  years.  But  it  is  not 
necessary  that  the  hospitals  should  be  closed  if  the 
staff  is  big  enough ;  a  certain  number  of  the  hospital 
staff  can  go  on  leave,  and  when  they  are  rested,  can 
come  back  and  allow  others  to  go  in  their  turn. 
Dr.  Cochrane  has  shown  at  Peking  that  such 
federation  is  possible,  and  the  China  Emergency 
Committee  is  making  every  effort  to  encourage  a 
similar  federation  in  other  parts  of  China.  Medical 
missions  are  splendid  examples  of  Christian  charity 
and  love,  but  they  are  rather  sad  examples  of  the 
lack  of  unity  among  Christian  men. 

Analogous  to  the  medical  mission  are  the  missions 
to  the  blind  and  the  deaf  The  blind  are  a  striking 
example  of  how  Christianity  alleviates  misery,  for 
the  blind  in  China  learn  to  read  more  quickly  than 
those  who  have  sight.  The  teachers  of  the  blind 
have  invented  a  system  of  raised  type  by  which  the 
Chinaman  can  read  every  word  that  is  pronounced 
in  Chinese.    It  is  not  our  letter  system,  which  they 


230  CHANGING  CHINA 

would  find  difficult  to  understand,  but  something 
after  the  nature  of  the  Japanese  system.  Each 
syllable  is  represented  by  a  sign  ;  so,  strange  as  it 
may  appear,  the  blind  man  not  having  to  study  the 
character  learns  to  read  more  quickly  than  the 
man  with  normal  sight.  There  is  an  excellent  school 
for  the  blind  at  Peking,  under  Dr.  Murray's  superin- 
tendence. There  is  another  at  Hankow,  where  we 
saw  a  most  striking  instance  of  the  beauty  of  holiness. 
One  of  the  masters  at  this  blind  school  was  a  blind 
man  himself ;  he  was  a  most  ardent  Christian  ;  he 
had  been  taught  to  play  the  organ,  which,  indeed, 
is  a  speciality  at  that  school,  many  of  the  organists 
in  the  mission  churches  in  Hankow  coming  from  it, 
and  one  could  not  look  upon  his  face  without  feeling 
a  conviction  that  his  spiritual  vision  was  as  clear  as 
his  physical  sight  was  dark. 

There  is  a  fourth  reason,  and  one  which  applies  as 
much  to  educational  missions  as  to  medical  missions, 
why  both  are  fitting  and  proper  ways  to  teach 
Christianity.  Christianity  claims  to  and  does  benefit 
the  whole  of  man,  not  merely  his  spiritual  side. 
Mankind  cannot  properly  be  cut  up  and  divided  into 
spirit,  mind,  and  body.  He  is  essentially  one,  and  it 
is  most  necessary  that  those  who  are  learning  about 
our  religion,  should  understand  that  while  we  claim 
every  benefit  should  come  from  the  spiritual  part  of 
our  nature,  we  are  prepared  to  show  that  we  in  no 
wise  despise  the  body,  which  needs  religious  care  as 
much  as  the  soul.    Neither  are  we  careless  about  the 


MEDICAL  MISSIONS  231 

mind.  So  the  three  parts  of  mission  work  go  hand 
in  hand,  for  preaching  and  prayer  will  heal  the  ills  of 
the  soul,  the  medical  mission  deals  with  the  ills  of  the 
body,  and  the  educational  mission  makes  the  mind 
healthy  and  strong.  We  shall  deal  with  the  educa- 
tional side  of  mission  work  later  on. 


CHAPTER  XIX 


MOVEMENT  IN  KOREA  AND  MANCHURIA 

One  of  the  movements  which  will  affect  Christianity 
all  over  the  East  has  had  its  origin  in  Korea.  Just 
as  the  suffering  and  miserable  heart  of  the  individual 
man  is  that  which  Christianity  finds  most  suitable 
for  its  home,  so  it  is  with  a  nation.  It  is  at  the 
moment  of  national  adversity  and  humiliation  that 
religious  movements  most  readily  rise.  Korea  had 
looked  upon  herself  as  the  equal  of  Japan.  From 
Korea  came  much  of  the  civilisation  which  adorned 
Japan  before  the  great  Western  movement.  When 
Prince  I  to  with  the  eyes  of  a  statesman  was  realising 
that  Japan  must  either  accept  the  domination  of  the 
West  or  its  civilisation,  Korea  was  immovably  en- 
trenched in  her  belief  in  her  national  greatness  and  in 
her  contempt  for  the  Western  world.  So  Westernised 
Japan  has  overcome  her  ancient  rival  and  teacher,  and 
Korea  is  humbled  to  the  very  dust. 

In  many  ways  that  humiliation  is  rendered  more 
poignant  owing  to  the  lack  of  sympathy  between 
the  races.  Though  they  both  have  taken  their 
civilisation  from  China  and  have  a  common  classical 
literature,  they  are  diametrically  opposed  in  many 
things.    The  Japanese  are  essentially  a  clean  race. 


KOREA  AND  MANCHURIA  233 

They  wash  constantly ;  they  will  not  enter  a  house 
with  their  shoes  on  their  feet.  No  one  who  knows 
them  will  accuse  the  Koreans  of  excess  in  cleanliness. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Japanese  very  frequently 
lack  modesty.  Many  are  the  stories  that  residents 
will  tell ;  and  we  have  seen  the  Japanese  women 
clothed  in  the  garb  of  Eve  appear  in  the  public  bath 
and  even  in  the  street.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Koreans  may  be  corrupt  and  immoral,  but  they  are 
modest.  The  women  of  Seoul  as  they  walk  through 
the  streets  cover  their  faces  with  their  green  cloaks, 
till  one  almost  thinks  one  must  be  in  a  Mohammedan 
land.  Those  green  cloaks  are  a  perpetual  reminder 
of  the  ancient  hostility  between  the  races. 

The  picturesque  story  is  worth  telling.  The  Jap- 
anese, knowing  of  the  absence  of  the  Korean  armies, 
determined  to  surprise  Seoul.  They  thought  they 
had  succeeded,  when  to  their  amazement  they  saw 
the  walls  of  Seoul  covered  wath  what  they  took  for 
warlike  Koreans.  The  ready  wit  of  the  women  had 
saved  their  town.  They  had  dressed  themselves  in 
their  husbands'  clothes  and  so  deceived  their  here- 
ditary foes.  The  Emperor  rewarded  them  by  giving 
them  the  right  to  wear  the  man's  green  coat,  which 
they  wear  not  in  coat  fashion,  but  over  their  heads, 
the  sleeves  partially  veiling  their  faces ;  and  as  one 
wanders  down  the  main  street  of  Seoul  and  watches 
the  modest  but  gaily-dressed  crowd  of  Koreans — the 
women  in  their  green  coats  with  red  ribbons,  the  men 
in  white  garments  wearing  their  curious  top- knots 


234  CHANGING  CHINA 

and  quaint  hats — one  understands  the  antipathy  they 
must  feel  for  the  short,  muscular,  soberly-dressed 
Japanese  who  by  his  courage  and  daring  has  subdued 
them  and  now  tramples  on  their  national  suscep- 
tibilities and  ignores  their  national  rights. 

There  are  several  missions  in  Korea,  but  there  is 
one  which,  prima  facie,  would  call  for  no  special  re- 
mark. It  ministers  to  the  white-robed  Koreans  in 
the  same  way  that  many  another  mission  ministers 
to  these  Eastern  peoples — teaching  and  preaching. 
Externally  there  is  nothing  exceptional  about  the 
missionaries.  I  will  not  say  that  their  mission  is 
uninteresting,  but  it  is  unexciting.  They  are  Ameri- 
cans by  nationality  and  Scotch  by  name  and  blood, 
and  they  follow  the  national  Presbyterian  faith  with 
all  its  cautious  teaching,  with  all  its  prim  simplicity. 
No  one  would  regard  them  as  the  mission  that  was 
likely  to  create  a  great  excitement  or  raise  a  great 
entliusiasm,  neither  indeed  do  they  so  regard  them- 
selves. Their  conception  of  mission  work  was  the 
sensible  and  reasonable  plan  of  converting  a  sufficient 
number  to  make  them  teachers  and  preachers,  and 
then  having  educated  them,  to  send  them  out  to 
convert  their  own  fellow-countrymen.  In  1906  and 
the  beginning  of  1907  they  were  filled  with  dark 
forebodings  for  the  future  of  Korea.  The  temporary 
occupation  of  Korea  by  the  Japanese  was  obviously 
going  to  be  changed  into  a  permanency.  The  murder 
of  the  Queen  had  shown  what  the  Japanese  would 
do,  and  the  victory  over  Russia  had  shown  what  they 


KOREA  AND  MANCHURIA  235 

could  do.  Korea  was  at  their  mercy.  Subdued  yet 
not  conquered  in  spirit,  the  missionaries,  knowing 
their  people  well,  foresaw  that  a  bitter  friction  must 
arise  between  the  two  races ;  that  rebellions  and  the 
consequent  fierce  repression  must  bring  to  their  infant 
church  a  time  of  great  trouble  ;  and  so,  like  the  wise 
Christian  men  that  they  were,  they  took  themselves 
to  the  Christian's  weapon,  namely,  prayer.  They 
earnestly  prayed  that  in  some  way  a  great  blessing 
should  fall  on  their  converts.  That  prayer  was  seem- 
ingly unanswered,  the  grasp  of  Japan  was  not  relaxed. 
Except  for  the  wisdom  and  gentleness  of  the  great 
Prince  Ito,  there  was  nothing  but  oppression  and  suf- 
ferings for  the  Koreans.  The  Japanese  army  had  learnt 
not  only  their  military  art  but  their  statecraft  in 
Germany,  and  the  latter  is  traditionally  harsh.  Break, 
crush,  and  bully  are  the  maxims  which  find  general 
acceptance  in  the  Prussian  Court.  Prince  Ito,  how- 
ever, was  a  great  admirer  of  English  imperial  policy 
with  its  maxims  of  justice  to  the  weak,  mercy  to  the 
conquered,  and  reverence  for  all  national  traditions ; 
but  Prince  Ito  could  not  control  the  Japanese  soldiers, 
and  the  moans  of  the  oppressed  Koreans  echoed 
throughout  her  land. 

In  the  spring  of  1907  the  Presbyterian  Mission 
held  what  is  called  its  country  class — that  is  to  say, 
that  the  men  who  had  been  converted  were  sum- 
moned from  all  the  country  villages  to  the  town 
of  Pyeng-Yang,  and  there  they  attended  for  several 
days'  instructions  in  the  Christian  faith.    This  ex- 


*  236  CHANGING  CHINA 

cellent  rule  enables  Christians  who  believe  but  who 
are  ignorant  to  acquire  a  more  intimate  knowledge 
of  the  truths  of  Christianity.  These  meetings  are 
wholly  unemotional ;  they  are  in  no  sense  revival 
meetings,  nor  even  devotional ;  they  are  essentially 
educational.  Their  object  is  to  teach  and  not  to  ex- 
cite. For  the  Scottish-American  has  a  double  national 
tradition  that  knowledge  is  strength.  These  meet- 
ings had  been  held  one  or  two  days;  they  had 
followed  their  usual  uneventful  if  beneficial  course, 
and  showed  every  probability  of  ending  as  they 
had  begun,  when  one  of  the  Koreans  rose  from  the 
centre  of  the  room  and  interrupted  the  ordinary 
course  of  the  meeting  by  asking  leave  to  speak.  As 
he  insisted,  permission  was  given  him.  He  declared 
that  he  had  a  sin  on  his  conscience  that  forbade  him 
listening  to  the  teaching  of  the  missionaries  in  peace, 
and  that  further  he  must  declare  this  sin.  The 
Presbyterian  missionaries  do  not  encourage  this  kind 
of  open  confession  of  sin,  but  still  to  get  on  with 
the  meeting  and  to  quiet  him  they  gave  him  leave 
to  speak.  He  then  declared  that  he  had  felt  some 
months  ago  a  feeling  of  bitterness  towards  one  of 
the  missionaries,  a  Mr.  Blair,  who  was  our  informant. 
Mr.  Blair  assured  him  that  so  far  from  feeling  that 
there  was  any  need  for  this  confession  he  regarded 
the  matter  as  trivial,  and  hoping  again  to  bring  the 
meeting  back  to  the  point  he  suggested  that  they 
should  say  the  Lord's  Prayer.  Hardly  had  he 
uttered  in  Korean  the  words     Our  Father,"  when 


KOREA  AND  MANCHURIA  237 

a  sudden  emotion  seemed  to  rush  over  all  those  who 
were  there  present.  The  missionaries  described  it  as 
at  once  one  of  the  most  awful  and  one  of  the  most 
mysterious  moments  of  their  lives.  They  were  not 
revivalists;  they  had  not  encouraged  it;  they  did 
not  believe  in  it ;  they  disliked  an  emotional  religion 
with  which  they  had  no  sympathy ;  and  here  they 
were  in  the  face  of  a  movement  which  was  beyond, 
not  only  their  experience,  but  that  of  the  greatest 
revivalists.  They  tried  to  stop  it,  but  unavailingly. 
The  Koreans,  unlike  the  Chinese,  always  sit  upon 
the  floor,  and  as  the  missionaries  looked  out  over 
the  meeting  from  the  platform  on  which  they  stood, 
they  saw  the  faces  of  their  converts  racked  with 
every  form  of  mental  anguish.  Some  were  swinging 
themselves  forward  striking  their  heads  on  the 
ground,  hoping,  as  it  were,  to  obtain  by  insensi- 
bility peace  from  their  torturing  thoughts ;  some 
were  in  the  presence  of  an  awful  terror ;  some  were 
leaping  up  demanding  to  be  heard,  longing  to  free 
their  souls  from  the  weight  they  felt  would  crush 
them ;  others  with  set  faces  were  resolutely  deter- 
mined not  to  yield  to  the  inspiration  of  the  spirit 
which  suggested  that  they  should  gain  relief  by 
frank  confession.  The  missionaries  having  failed  to 
bring  the  meeting  to  a  close,  submitted  to  what 
they  felt  was  the  will  of  a  higher  Being,  and 
the  meeting  went  on  till  fatigue  produced  a  tem- 
porary and  a  partial  rest.  Though  the  meeting  was 
closed,  the  missionaries  learnt  afterwards  that  many 


238  CHANGING  CHINA 


Koreans  went  on  all  through  the  night  in  agonised 
prayer. 

The  next  day  they  hoped  the  thing  was  oyer, 
and  that  the  incident  might  be  reckoned  among 
those  strange  experiences  which  workers  in  the 
mission  field  must  occasionally  expect  to  encounter; 
but  not  so — the  meeting  next  night  was  the  same 
as  its  predecessor.  They  noticed  several  interesting 
facts.  One,  for  instance,  was,  that  the  women  were 
far  less  affected  than  the  men.  The  movement  did 
not  reach  them  till  later,  and  never  so  fully.  Another 
remarkable  thing  about  this  movement  was  that 
though  the  Methodists  are  by  tradition  a  revivalist 
body,  and  though  they  have  a  vigorous  mission  work- 
ing in  that  town,  yet  the  revival  only  spread  to  their 
converts  after  many  days,  and  then  neither  with  the 
spontaneity  nor  the  fire  with  which  it  had  been  mani- 
fested in  the  Presbyterian  Mission. 

Of  the  reality  of  the  confession  of  sin  there  could 
be  no  doubt.  One  man,  for  instance,  confessed  to 
having  stolen  gold  from  a  local  gold-mining  company, 
and  produced  the  wedge  of  gold  which  he  had  stolen, 
and  asked  them  to  treat  him  as  he  deserved.  The 
manager  of  the  company  luckily  was  a  European, 
who  wisely  refused  to  punish  a  man  who  had  so 
spontaneously  confessed  his  theft.  Many  of  the  sins 
that  were  confessed  would  not  bear  repetition.  Some 
confessed  even  to  such  awful  sins  as  that  of  murder 
of  parents.  One  man  in  particular,  a  trusted  servant 
of  the  mission,  resisted  confession,  and  day  by  day 


KOREA  AND  MANCHUKTA  239 

became  more  and  more  racked  with  mental  agony, 
till  the  missionaries  feared  that  his  health  would 
not  endure  the  terrible  strain  of  such  mental  anguish, 
and  they  advised  him  to  make  a  free  confession  of 
his  sins.  At  last  he  came  to  them  with  a  sum  of 
money  in  his  hand ;  he  had  raised  it  by  selling  some 
houses  which  he  had  bought  as  a  provision  for  his 
old  age,  and  he  confessed  to  the  sin  that  was 
torturing  him.  He  had  done  what  is  constantly 
done  in  the  East — he  had  peculated.  His  position 
had  been  that  of  an  agent  whom  the  missionaries 
employ  to  make  many  of  their  small  payments,  and 
out  of  each  of  these  payments  he  had  taken  ^*a 
squeeze."  With  these  he  had  bought  the  houses 
which  now  he  had  sold.  He  left  the  missionaries 
happy  in  heart  though  empty  in  pocket. 

This  movement  spread  more  or  less  over  the 
Presbyterian  missions  in  Korea,  but  never  with  such 
intensity  as  manifested  at  Pyeng-Yang.  We  heard  it 
spoken  of  by  a  non-Christian  Korean,  a  member  of 
the  Court  of  the  Emperor  of  Korea.  He  had  heard 
of  it,  and  said  men  were  saying  this  movement  is  a 
wonderful  thing,  for  under  its  influence  men  confessed 
crimes  of  which  even  torture  would  not  have  induced 
them  to  own  themselves  guilty.  A  Chinese  merchant 
also  heard  of  it  in  Manchuria.  The  man  came  down 
to  Pyeng-Yang,  and  happened  to  stop  with  the 
Chinese  merchants.  He  mentioned  that  there  were 
Christians  in  Manchuria,  and  the  Chinese  merchants 
immediately  took  an  interest.    When  he  asked  what 


240  CHANGING  CHINA 

they  knew  of  the  Christians,  they  answered,  **  Good 
men,  good  men."  One  of  them  was  owed  by  a  Korean 
twenty  dollars,  who  would  only  allow  that  he  owed 
ten,  and  the  merchant  having  no  means  of  redress, 
had  written  off  the  debt ;  but  when  this  revival 
took  place,  the  Korean  came  with  the  other  ten 
dollars  together  with  interest,  and  what  of  course 
would  appeal  even  more  to  the  Eastern  mind,  with 
the  frank  confession  that  he  had  lied.  This  practical 
illustration  of  the  effects  of  Christianity  greatly  im- 
pressed the  Chinese. 

When  we  arrived  at  Pyeng-Yang  the  movement  was 
over.  We  went  to  some  of  their  meetings.  They  were 
very  common-place  ordinary  meetings.  All  that  struck 
us  was  that  there  was  a  tone  of  reverence,  a  sense 
of  reality,  which  made  one  feel  that  Christianity  was 
as  sincere  in  Korea  as  it  is  in  our  own  land. 

The  movement  has  spread  from  Korea  to  Man- 
churia. In  Manchuria  the  movement  had  not  quite 
the  same  spontaneity  that  it  had  in  Korea ;  it 
savoured  more  of  the  revival  meetings  of  the  West. 
It  needed  the  stirring  words  of  a  great  preacher,  Mr. 
Goforth,  to  start  it,  yet  there  were  one  or  two  curious 
manifestations  of  power.  One  is  worth  telling. 
One  brother  was  heard  expostulating  with  another; 
he  was  asking  why  his  brother  had,  forgetful  of  his 
family  dignity  or  "face,"  confessed  to  sins  which 
brought  not  only  himself  but  his  family  into  dis- 
respect. The  other  answered,  "When  the  Spirit  of 
God  takes  hold  of  a  man,  he  cannot  help  speaking." 


KOREA  AND  MANCHURIA  241 

Two  still  more  curious  instances  are  worth  record- 
ing :  one  in  which  two  soldiers  who  were  not  Chris- 
tians were  so  moved  that  they  confessed  their  sins ; 
another  which  seems  to  prove  the  presence  of  a  force 
exterior  to  human  influence  or  to  the  emotions  caused 
by  eloquence  or  moving  hymns.  An  elder  of  the 
Church  had  forgotten  or  been  detained  from  going  to 
one  of  these  meetings ;  when  the  speakers  went  to 
inquire  next  day  why  he  had  not  been  there,  he 
asked  them  in  return  to  tell  him  w^hat  they  had  done 
at  the  meeting,  and  they  told  him  that  many  people 
had  confessed  their  sins.  He  was  deeply  interested, 
and  said  :  "  I  was  sitting  in  my  house  at  the  hour  of 
your  meeting ;  I  suddenly  felt  as  if  all  my  sins  were 
laid  before  me,  and  I  realised  as  I  had  never  done 
before  my  many  shortcomings." 

And  so  the  movement  has  spread  through  Man- 
churia to  China.  If  it  has  lost  something  of  its 
freshness,  something  of  its  force,  it  still  remains  a 
movement  that  may  accomplish  great  things.  No 
one  who  has  read  the  history  of  the  Wesleyan  move- 
ment, and  of  the  wonderful  manifestations  that  accom- 
panied its  commencement,  will  look  without  interest 
and  expectation  for  the  work  which  this  movement 
may  accomplish.  Let  us  hope  that  it  will  bring  to 
China  a  sense  of  reality  in  spiritual  things  which  the 
present  materialist  teaching  threatens  to  eliminate 
from  her  national  life. 


CHAPTER  XX 


THE  FUTURE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  IN  CHINA 

At  the  great  Shanghai  Conference  we  always  spoke 
of  the  Church  in  China,"  implying  thereby  that 
there  was  to  be  one  Christian  body  in  the  Chinese 
empire.  This  ideal  is  lofty  and  not  impossible. 
There  is  a  reasonable  expectation  that  the  great  in- 
tellectual movement  in  China  will  render  the  Chinese 
very  ready  to  accept  new  ideas,  and  the  rate  of  con- 
version in  China  gives  one  reasonable  hope  that  the 
new  ideas  may  be  Christian  and  not  those  of  Western 
materialism.  If  China  becomes  Christian  there  will 
no  doubt  be  a  great  tendency  to  accept  the  unity  of 
Christianity  as  an  essential  doctrine.  As  a  race  they 
clearly  tend  towards  union  as  much  as  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  tends  towards  disunion.  The  British 
empire  has  been  held  together  by  its  fear  of  its 
enemies ;  the  Chinese  empire  has  been  held  together 
through  their  natural  love  of  union,  which  is  the 
dominant  characteristic  of  the  race.  Remove  the 
enemies  of  the  British  empire  and  she  will  natu- 
rally divide,  but  force  the  Chinese  empire  apart  and 
she  will  naturally  return  to  one  body.  Chinese 
Christianity  will,  if  it  is  truly  Chinese,  tend  to  one 

body.    This  truth,  which  I  think  would  have  been 

243 


THE  FUTURE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  243 

allowed  by  the  whole  Shanghai  Conference,  opens  up 
a  train  of  thought  which  is  full  of  foreboding  and 
yet  of  hope. 

One  obvious  criticism  of  what  was  said  of  the 
Church  in  China  was  kept  largely  out  of  sight  at 
the  Shanghai  Conference,  namely,  that  as  the  Roman 
Communion  far  outnumbers  the  whole  of  the  non- 
Roman  Communions  put  together,  the  Church  in 
China,  therefore,  if  it  is  to  consist  of  all  Christians, 
will  be  something  very  different  to  what  the  majority 
of  those  present  at  that  Conference  would  like.  Some 
men  maintain  that  the  Chinese  love  of  unity  will  not 
go  so  far  as  to  compel  the  union  between  Protestant 
and  Catholic,  and  that  in  China  the  schism  which  has 
rent  Christianity  in  twain  in  Europe  will  be  continued. 
I  would  ask  those  who  think  thus  if  they  think 
this  is  desirable  even  if  it  is  possible.  Once  foreign 
influence  and  support  has  been  removed,  would  not 
such  a  division  soon  produce  a  state  of  great  friction, 
resulting  probably  in  the  destruction  of  the  smaller 
body.  But  it  is  most  improbable ;  a  race  which 
has  habitually  put  together  Taoism,  Buddhism,  and 
Confucianism  will  have  no  difficulty  at  all  in  uniting 
Romanism  and  Protestantism.  I  do  not  mean  to  say 
that  Rome  will  conquer  ;  it  does  not  seem  likely.  The 
power  of  the  Romans  is  great  when  they  are  preach- 
ing our  common  Christianity,  but  their  peculiar  doc- 
trine of  the  pre-eminence  of  Rome  is  most  unattractive 
to  the  Chinaman.  After  all,  Rome  is  a  very  small 
place  to  a  man  who  lives  in  China.    Think  how  little 


244  CHANGING  CHINA 

we  know  of  ancient  Chinese  history,  and  realise  how 
little  China  knows  of  the  history  of  our  civilisation. 
Eome  at  the  present  day  is  to  the  Chinaman  merely 
the  capital  of  Germany's  weakest  ally.  The  reason- 
ing of  the  universality  of  the  Roman  Church,  always 
faulty,  seems  almost  ridiculous  in  China.  The  China- 
man on  one  side  is  conversant  with  America,  on  the 
other  side  she  is  in  touch  with  India,  while  on  the 
north  she  has  a  frontier  which  stretches  for  thousands 
and  thousands  of  miles  between  her  and  the  great 
Orthodox  Church  of  Russia.  One's  eyes  naturally 
turn  to  this  immense  line  of  frontier  between  Con- 
fucianism and  Christianity,  and  one  wonders  how  any 
Chinaman  can  possibly  think  of  Rome  as  the  one 
Catholic  Church.  If  the  Roman  Church,  with  its 
foreign  domination  and  its  tacit  acceptance  of  the 
fact  that  only  members  of  the  Italian  nation  can 
receive  Divine  authority  to  guide  the  Church  on 
earth,  is  unattractive  to  the  mind  of  the  man  who 
lives  in  the  Far  East,  on  the  other  hand  its  ornate 
and  dignified  services  must  be  most  attractive  to 
a  race  whose  national  philosophy  puts  pre-eminent 
weight  on  dignity  and  decorum  in  dress  and  de- 
meanour. If  the  Roman  Church  could  give  up 
her  Latin  services,  could  frankly  become  a  national 
Church  which  owed  no  obedience  to  any  Pontiff  outside 
China,  one  would  regret  the  possibility  but  one  would 
have  to  allow  the  probability  of  her  complete  domi- 
nation over  the  Chinese  empire.  Again  one's  eyes 
turn  to  the  northern  frontier,  and  one  asks  oneself 


THE  FUTURE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  245 

whether  that  great  Orthodox  Church,  the  dignity  of 
whose  services  is  without  parallel,  and  which  frankly 
accepts  the  national  Church  as  a  reasonable  Christian 
position,  will  not  one  day  be  a  large  factor  in  the 
future  missionary  work  in  China.  After  what  we 
had  seen  and  heard  at  the  Centenary  Conference, 
and  after  we  had  realised  the  great  extent  of  the 
Roman  work,  we  felt  that  till  one  understood  why 
the  Russian  Church  conducted  no  missionary  work 
one  could  not  understand  the  whole  missionary  pro- 
blem ;  for  when  the  Russian  Church  does  undertake 
such  work,  her  geographical  position  must  render  her 
important. 

The  whole  of  this  question  is  of  the  greatest 
interest  to  the  student  of  missions,  but  especially  to 
an  Anglican.  The  great  value  of  the  Anglican 
position  has  always  seemed  that,  to  use  an  election 
phrase,  we  oflfer  a  platform  on  which  all  those  who 
call  themselves  Christian  might  possibly  unite.  The 
great  rent  which  divides  Protestant  from  Catholic 
seems  not  only  to  make  it  impossible  for  Latin 
Christians  to  unite  with  the  Teuton  Protestant 
Churches,  but  also  renders  it  hard  for  the  latter 
to  unite  with  the  great  Churches  of  Eastern  Europe. 
Of  course  all  this  has  only  an  academic  interest  in 
England,  but  in  China  with  its  rapidly  growing 
Christianity  and  an  intellectual  revolution  surging 
forward  to  unknown  possibilities,  all  this  is  of  vital 
interest.  What  will  Chinese  Christianity  be  ?  Is  it 
to  be  an  ornate  Christianity  to  which  the  converts 


246  CHANGING  CHINA 


of  Rome  and  possibly  the  converts  of  the  Orthodox 
Church  will  adhere,  an  ornate  Church  sullied  no 
doubt  with  the  faults  of  her  parents,  a  Church 
possibly  attractive  to  the  Buddhist,  for  he  will  not 
need  to  traverse  any  great  distance  in  thought  to 
enter  her  portals ;  or  is  it  to  be  a  great  Protestant 
Church,  cold  and  bare,  vigorous  and  energetic,  a 
Church  in  which  the  uniform  of  the  Teuton  mind 
will  sit  badly  on  the  Chinese  convert,  a  Church 
which  may  in  many  things  represent  truly  the  will 
of  our  mutual  Master,  but  a  Church  which  leaves 
the  Oriental  cold  and  miserable,  while  it  practically 
tears  from  our  Bible  those  endless  chapters  on  the 
decoration  of  Temple  and  Tabernacle,  those  constant 
commands  to  an  exact  and  ordered  ritual. 

I  write  with  what  the  Germans  call  "  objectivity  "  ; 
the  Teuton  within  me  dislikes  ritual ;  but  the  China- 
man is  no  Teuton,  and  the  Chinaman  loves  ritual  as 
much  as  any  man  on  earth.  No  one  who  has  been  re- 
ceived by  a  Chinese  Viceroy  in  his  Yamen  can  have  the 
very  slightest  doubt  on  this  subject.  If  the  Protestant 
bodies  hope  to  force  on  the  Chinese  a  non-ornate 
form  of  Christianity,  they  will  be  doing  exactly  what 
the  Italian  Church  did  to  the  Northern  races,  and 
which  produced  the  great  upheaval  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. The  Reformation  was  essentially  the  rebellion 
of  the  Teuton  mind  against  a  forced  acceptance  of  the 
Italian  view  of  Christianity.  To  force  on  the  Chinese 
converts  a  Christianity  shorn  of  all  ritual  and  display 
will  produce  in  years  to  come  some  similar  upheaval. 


THE  FUTURE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  247 

There  is  yet  a  third  possibility.  The  Anglican  position 
affords  the  means  of  avoiding  such  an  upheaval,  and 
of  permitting  a  union  of  all  Christians  on  the  basis  of 
an  ornate  service  and  evangelical  Christianity.  For 
while  it  permits  a  service  equal  in  dignity  to  that  of 
Rome  or  of  Russia,  it  insists  equally  with  the  bodies 
who  pride  themselves  on  the  name  of  Protestant  on 
the  supreme  value  of  the  Bible. 

The  very  hope  I  have  that  Christianity  will  con- 
quer China  makes  me  fearful  for  the  future.  The 
age  of  persecution  is  past,  the  blood  of  the  martyrs 
has  been  shed,  and  the  seed  of  a  Church  freely  sown. 
But  after  the  age  of  persecution  comes  the  age  of 
heresy,  and  to  preserve  Christianity  in  China  from 
future  dangers,  not  only  is  union  necessary,  but  a 
well-ordered  Church  bound  by  creeds,  respecting  tra- 
dition, which  shall  embrace  all  those  Christians  by 
whomsoever  they  have  been  converted  who  love  the 
name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  great  danger 
I  fear  for  the  future  Church  in  China  is  one  of 
Eastern  and  not  Western  origin.  I  do  not  fear  the 
domination  of  Rome.  I  doubt  that  the  Protestant 
Communions  will  succeed  in  ultimately  persuading 
the  Chinese  to  worship  God  in  a  bare  building  and 
without  vestments. 

China  and  Japan  will,  if  they  are  conquered  by 
Christianity,  be  neither  Protestant  nor  Catholic  any 
more  than  we  are  Nestorian  or  Eutychian.  Their 
divisions,  their  dangers,  their  struggles,  will  arise 
from  a  wholly  different  set  of  circumstances.    I  fear 


248  CHANGING  CHINA 

the  dangers  will  come  from  an  effort  to  incorporate 
Buddhism  and  Christianity  in  one  religion.  This 
is  all  the  more  probable  as  it  has  doubtless  happened 
before.  Nestorianism  and  Buddhism  are  the  probable 
parents  of  the  present  Chinese  Lamaism.  It  is,  how- 
ever, not  given  for  us  to  see  into  the  future,  but  we 
can  look  back  into  the  past,  and  we  can  see  that  our 
predecessors  in  the  faith  nearly  invariably  made  the 
mistake  of  supposing  that  the  old  dangers  were  going 
to  recur,  and  of  therefore  depending  on  the  old 
measures  of  defence. 

The  future  Church  in  the  Far  East  must  fight  her 
own  battles.  She  must  solve  her  own  problems.  All 
we  can  do  is  to  hand  over  to  her  the  truth  in  all 
its  fulness,  and  teach  her  to  look  for  divine  guid- 
ance, to  forget  such  words  as  Protestant,  Roman 
Catholic,  Nonconformist,  and  Anglican ;  to  learn 
merely  the  word  "Christian"  and  the  word  Love." 
If  Far  Eastern  Christianity  will  have  its  battles 
to  fight,  it  will  have  also  its  message  to  give  to  the 
West,  "  that  they  without  us  should  not  be  made 
perfect."  It  may  be  that  the  message  of  the  East  to 
the  West  will  be  that  as  God  is  One,  so  must  His 
followers  be ;  that  strong  and  mighty  as  is  the  West, 
there  is  in  her  an  element  of  the  very  greatest 
weakness ;  that  the  discord  that  reigns  between 
Christian  and  Christian,  between  race  and  race,  be- 
tween class  and  class,  is  not  the  will  of  the  Creator, 
but  is  the  result  of  the  national  sins  of  the  white 
races.    The  Far  East,  with  its  greater  power  of  unity. 


THE  FUTURE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  249 

may  illumine  the  West  with  a  higher  conception  of 
this  great  virtue,  and  the  world  may  be  a  far  holier 
and  happier  place  when  the  yellow  race  has  preached 
to  the  world  the  great  doctrine  of  peace  on  earth  and 
goodwill  to  men. 


THE  NEW  AND  THE  OLD 
LEARNING 


CHAPTER  XXI 

EDUCATION,  CHIEFLY  MISSIONARY 

I  HAVE  before  had  occasion  to  refer  to  the  great 
influence  education  has  had  on  the  awakening  of 
China,  and  I  think  the  Americans  can  fairly  claim 
to  have  been  the  greatest  workers  in  this  field.  The 
Roman  Catholics  have  from  time  immemorial  been 
most  careful  to  train  children  in  Christian  truth,  and 
they  have  wonderful  institutions  for  this  purpose.  In 
1852  the  Jesuits  founded  the  College  of  St.  Ignatius 
for  the  education  of  native  priests,  and  since  that 
day  they  have  founded  many  educational  institutions. 
They  have  besides  a  very  large  number  of  primary 
schools,  intended  originally  merely  to  preserve  their 
converts  from  too  intimate  contact  with  the  heathen 
world,  and  they  have  also  many  higher  schools.  In 
those  schools  they  teach  modern  knowledge,  making 
a  speciality  of  teaching  French,  which  they  can  do 
with  great  efiieiency,  as  many  of  their  number  belong 
to  the  French  nation.  In  the  German  sphere  of 
influence  there  are  Catholic  schools  where  German 
is  taught ;  but  though  the  work  is  excellent,  it  can- 
not be  compared  with  the  work  of  the  Americans, 
who  were  really  the  pioneers  of  higher  education  in 
China. 

ass 


254  CHANGING  CHINA 

When  the  American  missionaries  began  to  arrive, 
a  new  departure  was  inaugurat<  d  in  education.  The 
school  and  college  were  no  k^ger  places  where 
Christians  were  simply  educated;  they  were  places 
where  Christians,  confident  in  the  truth  of  their 
teaching,  gave  away  to  heathen  and  Christian  alike 
all  the  knowledge  that  the  West  possessed.  The 
conception  was  bold ;  it  was  grand.  It  showed  a 
statesmanlike  grip  of  the  situation  and  a  courage 
which  can  only  come  from  a  consciousness  of  the 
strength  of  the  Christian  position,  that  Chris- 
tianity was  not  a  narrow  religion  fearing  free 
inquiry.  Christianity,  on  the  contrary,  was  a 
religion  which  could  only  be  appreciated  by  those 
who  had  the  very  fullest  knowledge.  These  teachers 
boldly  declared  that  ignorance  was  the  mother  of 
religious  error,  and  therefore  the  duty  of  every 
Christian  was  at  once  to  remove  ignorance  and  to 
share  with  every  one  the  knowledge  that  can  alone 
make  the  world  capable  of  truly  appreciating  God's 
power  as  manifested  in  every  department  of  science. 

So  these  schools  and  colleges  grew  up.  Those  who 
believed  in  this  policy  did  not  belong  to  any  one 
denomination,  though  they  did  belong  to  one  nation — 
America.  There  were  many  opponents  to  this  policy. 
It  was  argued  that  the  duty  of  the  mission  bodies 
was  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  that  however  advan- 
tageous education  might  be,  it  was  not  the  business 
of  the  Christian  to  give  it ;  but  whatever  doubt  there 
was  then,  facts  have  been  too  strong  for  those  who 


EDUCATION,  CHIEFLY  MISSIONARY  255 

opposed  the  educational  policy,  and  any  one  travelling 
through  China  realises  more  and  more  how  the  Mis- 
sion that  has  spent  money  on  education  is  the  Mission 
that  has  the  power  of  expansion.  The  Mission  that 
has  no  educational  system  is  always  cabined  and  con- 
fined for  want  of  money  and  men.  They  are  always 
writing  home  to  ask  that  another  man  shall  be  sent 
out ;  some  one  has  broken  down  or  some  new  oppor- 
tunity for  work  has  been  opened,  and  so  they  must 
press  upon  the  Home  Board  the  great  importance  of 
sending  out  at  as  early  a  date  as  possible  one  or 
more  helpers."  The  Home  Board  is  always  answer- 
ing those  letters,  expressing  "every  sympathy  with 
their  anxiety,"  but  in  reality  pouring  cold  water  on 
their  enthusiasm,  and  pointing  out  that  the  supply  of 
men  is  limited  and  that  the  supply  of  money  is  yet 
more  limited.  Thus  the  opportunity  passes  and  the 
mission  cannot  expand.  The  same  little  church 
stands  filled  with  converts ;  the  same  mission  build- 
ing houses  the  tired  out  and  climate-stricken  white 
missionaries.  Such  a  mission,  while  inspiring  the 
greatest  respect  for  the  heroism  of  the  missionaries, 
arouses  also  a  feeling  of  despair.  How  is  it  possible 
that  a  mission  like  this  can  really  solve  the  problem 
of  making  Christianity  a  national  religion  ?  How 
can  spiritual  ministrations  be  performed  by  aliens, 
supported  by  alien  money  collected  from  a  possibly 
hostile  race? 

A  very  different  efiect  is  made  on  the  mind  of 
the  onlooker  when  he  comes  upon  some  mission  that 


256  CHANGING  CHINA 

has  made  education  a  speciality.  There  all  is  life, 
vigour  and  success.  One  of  the  most  successful  of 
the  American  missionaries,  Bishop  Roots,  of  the  Epis- 
copal Church  of  America,  explained  the  system  by 
which  he  is  succeeding  in  making  Christianity  an 
indigenous  religion.  At  his  large  college,  presided 
over  by  Mr.  Jackson,  many  are  heathen.  Some 
go  through  the  college  and  imbibe  a  certain  respect 
for  Christian  ethics,  which  will  not  only  make  them 
a  benefit  to  China  but  will  make  an  intellectual 
atmosphere  sympathetic  to  Christian  teaching.  Some, 
however,  will  become  Christians  who  will  mostly  go 
out  into  the  world  and  take  their  place,  and  a  high 
place  too,  in  the  leadership  of  the  future  China,  as 
much  owing  to  the  excellence  of  the  teaching  that 
they  have  received  as  to  the  high  morality  which 
is  produced  by  their  Christian  faith.  Then  there 
will  be  a  few  who  will  feel  a  distinct  call  to  go  out 
as  missionaries  to  their  own  people.  These  men  will 
have  no  temptation  to  become  Christians  for  the 
loaves  and  fishes,  because,  owing  to  the  excellence 
of  the  education  that  they  have  received  and  the 
great  prosperity  that  is  dawning  over  China,  they 
could  command  a  large  salary  in  the  open  market. 
These  highly-educated  clergy  are  able  to  go  out  and 
put  Christianity  to  the  Chinese  in  a  manner  which 
no  white  man  could  hope  to  equal. 

What  Bishop  Roots  told  me  can  be  well  illustrated 
by  two  little  incidents.  In  Hankow,  where  his  work 
is  increasing  by  leaps  and  bounds,  the  Lutheran 


EDUCATION,  CHIEFLY  MISSIONARY  257 

Mission  failed,  and  therefore  it  resigned  the  chapel 
to  him.  He  accepted  readily,  and  soon  his  Chinese 
clergy  were  preaching  to  crowded  congregations.  The 
second  incident  was  this  :  I  expressed  a  wish  to  make 
a  present  to  one  of  these  Christian  scholars,  and  I 
asked  what  books  he  would  like  to  receive.  I  was 
told  that  such  books  as  Balfour's  "  Defence  of  Philo- 
sophic Doubt"  and  Haldane's  ''Pathway  to  EeaHty" 
were  the  kind  that  would  appeal  to  such  young  men. 
Not  only  will  these  men  carry  the  Gospel  to  their 
fellow-countrymen  far  more  efficiently  than  can  the 
alien,  but  they  will  to  a  great  extent  be  able  to  live 
on  the  subscriptions  of  their  congregations,  and  so 
the  communion  to  which  they  belong  will  become 
not  only  self-propagating  but  self-supporting. 

To  understand  the  importance  of  this  controversy  the 
various  aims  of  missionary  education  must  be  realised, 
and  it  is  because  those  aims  are  different  that  the 
controversy  has  been  confused  and  the  value  of  educa- 
tion as  an  assistance  to  missionary  effort  in  China  mis- 
understood. There  are  really  seven  aims  :  three  which 
are  common  to  all  missionary  effort  in  all  lands,  and  four 
which  especially  apply  to  countries  like  China  which 
are  passing  through  a  transitional  period  of  thought. 
The  three  which  are  common  to  all  missionary  effort 
are  (1)  evangelisation  ;  (2)  edification  of  the  Christian 
body  ;  (3)  education  of  preachers  and  teachers.  The 
four  that  are  peculiar  to  China  in  her  present  transi- 
tional condition  are  (4)  preparation  of  secular  leaders ; 

(5)  leavening  of  the  whole  public  opinion ;  (6)  opposi- 

R 


258  CHANGING  CHINA 

tion  to  "Western  materialism ;  (7)  association  of  Chris- 
tianity with  learning. 

The  arguments  for  the  first  three  are  applicable  to 
every  land.  Evangelisation  can  no  doubt  be  carried 
on  most  efficiently  before  the  mind  has  received  any 
intellectual  bias.  The  Jesuit  priest  is  reported  to 
have  said,  If  I  have  the  child  till  he  is  ten,  I  do  not 
care  who  has  him  afterwards  ; "  and  therefore,  as  in 
all  the  world  so  in  China,  the  Roman  Catholics  have 
always  made  a  great  effort  to  educate  children.  They 
have  preferred  those  who  have  had  no  home-ties, 
orphans  and  waifs,  and  have  by  this  policy  built  up 
a  huge  Christian  population  numbering  over  a  million. 
This  population  is  thoroughly  Christian  in  sentiment ; 
they  have  never  known  an  idolatrous  atmosphere,  and 
they  live  to  a  great  extent  by  themselves  in  commu- 
nities. While  they  are  thoroughly  Christian,  they  are 
also  absolutely  Chinese  ;  no  effort  is  made  to  Westernise 
the  children  in  any  way.  From  this  great  Christian 
body  Catholic  priests  are  drawn,  and  I  believe  so 
completely  Christian  are  they,  that  no  difference  is 
made  between  them  and  white  men  by  such  an  im- 
portant body  as  the  Jesuits.  When  other  Christian 
bodies  began  missionary  work  in  China  they  also 
started  schools,  but  the  difference  of  their  schools 
was  that  they  aimed  much  more  at  the  second  than 
at  the  first  object.  The  school  was  not  merely  a 
place  to  attract  homeless  children  and  bring  them  up 
as  Christians  ;  it  was  also  intended  to  edify  and  adorn 
with  knowledge  the  children  of  Christians.  Non- 


EDUCATION,  CHIEFLY  MISSIONARY  259 

Christians  were  largely  admitted,  but  I  think  that  I  am 
right  in  stating  that  the  object  was  much  more  edifi- 
cation than  evangelisation.  In  a  corrupt  society  like 
China,  where  all  knowledge  is  intermingled  with  vice, 
it  is  inevitable  that  Christian  schools  should  be  erected 
for  the  Christian  body,  and  it  is  equally  inevitable 
that  those  who  are  non-Christians  but  who  admire 
the  schools  greatly  should  try  and  enter  them.  The 
feature  of  these  schools  for  the  most  part,  though  not 
invariably,  in  contrast  to  the  earlier  Boman  Catholic 
schools,  is  that  Western  education  is  to  a  certain 
extent,  varying  in  each  mission,  superadded  to 
Chinese  learning  ;  and  therefore,  though  the  school 
is  essentially  a  school  for  Chinese  learning,  the 
children  as  a  rule  learn  something  also  of  Western 
knowledge. 

Out  of  these  schools  naturally  arise  others  which 
have  the  third  aim  of  missionary  education  as  their 
object,  namely,  the  preparation  of  preachers  and 
teachers  who  in  the  future  shall  be  the  real  missionary 
body  of  China.  Every  thinking  man  realises  that  the 
alien  missionary  can  only  exist  in  a  brief  transitional 
period.  The  true  teachers  of  a  race  must  be  those 
who  are  linked  to  it  by  ties  of  blood  and  tradition, 
and  nearly  every  mission  has  therefore  set  to  work  to 
create  a  native  ministry  which  is  sooner  or  later  to 
take  over  the  task  of  the  conversion  of  China.  This 
is  regarded  by  many,  nay,  by  most,  as  the  great  aim 
of  missionary  educational  work.  The  degree  of  pre- 
paration, however,  difiers  widely  in  different  missions. 


26o  CHANGING  CHINA 


Some  missions,  drawing  their  teachers  from  the  lower 
ranks  of  society,  are  quite  content  to  give  them  an 
education  which  will  enable  them  to  lead  and  teach 
the  lower  class  among  whom  they  move ;  other  mis- 
sions held  that  the  Christian  teacher  must  not  merely 
be  able  to  lead  the  ignorant  but  must  be  able  also  to 
meet  in  controversy  those  who  may  be  well  equipped 
with  Western  knowledge  ;  and  therefore  while  in  some 
missions  the  education  of  native  pastors  is  conducted 
solely  in  Chinese,  in  others  the  teaching  is  in  English, 
to  enable  the  teachers  and  preachers  to  keep  abreast 
with  the  thought  of  Western  countries  and  to  defend 
their  land  by  pen  and  sermon  as  much  against  the 
errors  of  the  West  as  against  the  superstition  of  the 
East. 

It  is  in  the  preparation  of  these  highly  educated 
men  that  an  opportunity  is  given  for  the  fourth  aim 
of  missionary  education  in  China  :  one  which  would 
not  be  applicable  in  every  country,  but  which  is 
vitally  important  in  China,  namely,  the  preparation 
of  secular  leaders  in  China.  To  understand  the  im- 
portance of  this  we  must  be  always  reminding  our 
readers  that  China  is  in  the  midst  of  an  intellectual 
revolution.  She  is  passing  through  a  period  which 
is  in  some  way  comparable  to  the  period  of  the 
Renaissance  in  Europe,  but  which  exceeds  it  both 
in  importance  and  in  danger,  because  in  Europe,  as 
the  name  shows,  it  was  essentially  a  reintroduction 
of  fornfotten  but  not  new  knowledore  with  its  sub- 
sequent  enlargement  and  development.     In  China 


EDUCATION,  CHIEFLY  MISSIONARY  261 


the  revolution  is  caused  by  the  introduction  of 
foreign  knowledge,  which  is  absolutely  inharmonious 
and  in  many  ways  opposed  to  native  thought.  In 
Europe  the  foundations  of  knowledge  were  always 
secure ;  it  was  only  the  superstructure  that  was 
altered.  In  China  the  very  foundations  are  being 
uprooted ;  the  result  is  that  China  is  at  the  present 
without  leaders,  except  for  a  narrow  band  of  men, 
who  owing  to  the  foresight  of  some  Christians  in 
the  past  have  received  a  Western  education.  There 
are  plenty  of  old-fashioned  leaders,  who  have  led  or 
failed  to  lead  the  sleepy  China  of  years  ago — men  of 
considerable  ability  but  in  a  state  of  great  mental 
confusion,  owing  to  their  powerlessness  to  compre- 
hend the  many  aspects  of  the  civilisation  which  is 
being  forced  upon  them  and  which  is  unnatural 
to  them.  They  cannot  understand  our  currency 
questions,  our  financial  operations ;  they  only  dimly 
realise  the  possibilities  and  problems  connected  with 
military  and  naval  armaments.  They  yearn  for  the 
years  gone  by,  but  an  inexorable  fate  urges  their 
country  forward  into  new  positions,  which  bring  with 
them  new  responsibilities,  new  powers  and  new  dangers. 
China  demands  men  to  lead  her  through  this  terrible 
state  of  confusion  and  chanore,  and  she  turns  round 
to  find  the  men  who  understand  Western  civilisation, 
who  have  the  character  and  the  knowledge  necessary 
to  deal  with  all  these  problems.  Just  at  this  moment, 
any  man  of  ability  who  has  an  intimate  knowledge 
of  Western  things  stands  a  chance  of  high  prefer- 


262  CHANGING  CHINA 


ment.  It  may  be  that  this  demand  will  be  satisfied 
by  the  number  of  students  China  has  sent  abroad 
to  be  educated,  but  the  size  of  China  and  the 
great  demand  for  men  skilled  in  Western  learning 
make  many  of  those  having  a  most  intimate  know- 
ledge of  China  confident  that  this  is  an  oppor- 
tunity that  is  still  open,  that  it  is  still  possible 
to  direct  to  some  degree  the  minds  and  thought 
of  those  who  will  lead  China  as  statesmen,  as 
authors,  and  as  men  of  learning.  The  produc- 
tion of  these  men  can  be  carried  on  to  great 
advantage  in  the  same  establishment  as  that  in 
which  the  clergy  are  receiving  their  education ; 
the  educated  clergyman,  the  future  pressmen  and 
statesmen  of  China  are  in  this  way  brought  in 
close  contact  with  one  another,  and  even  from  one 
establishment  the  good  that  may  come  to  China  is 
quite  incalculable. 

This  brings  us  to  the  fifth  great  aim  of  educa- 
tion, the  leavening  of  public  opinion  in  China  so 
that  Christianity  will  find  ground  prepared  for  its 
sowing.  The  destruction  of  superstition,  the  pro- 
duction of  Western  ethics  make  Christianity  a  rea- 
sonable instead  of  an  unreasonable  religion  to  those 
who  hear  it  preached.  Clearly  to  leaven  public 
opinion  influence  must  be  applied  to  those  who  will 
control  such  powers  as  those  of  the  press  and  the 
school ;  the  teacher  and  the  writer  are  the  men 
who  should  be  especially  aimed  at ;  and  to  attain 
this  aim,  it  is  necessary  to  institute  and  maintain 


EDUCATION,  CHIEFLY  MISSIONARY  263 

places  where  higher  knowledge  is  taught  rather 
than  only  primary  schools. 

But  there  is  another  object,  the  sixth  aim  for 
education  in  China.  One  of  the  unpleasant  features 
in  the  revolution  that  is  going  on  in  Chinese  thought 
is  the  present  introduction  of  Western  materialism, 
which  to  judge  by  the  example  in  Japan,  will  grow 
more  rankly  after  transplantation.  The  West  has 
a  double  aspect  when  seen  from  the  East ;  it  is  a 
Christian  world  where  women  are  pure  and  men 
are  honourable ;  it  is  a  rich  world  where  there  are 
no  moral  obligations.  The  first  aspect  is  the  one 
that  is  represented  by  the  missionary ;  the  second 
aspect  is  too  often  taught  by  the  sailor  and  merchant 
classes ;  and  when  the  Chinaman  asks  what  is  the 
thought  and  the  base  of  Western  teaching,  the 
Japanese  materialist,  pointing  to  the  example  set 
by  many  Western  lives,  declares  that  Christianity 
in  Europe  is  like  Buddhism  in  Japan,  a  religion 
that  at  one  time  had  many  adherents  but  whose 
influence  is  fast  waning,  and  it  is  in  resisting 
this  materialism  that  the  Missionary  College  and 
University  perform  perhaps  their  most  important 
task. 

The  men  who  are  to  do  this  work  must  be 
men  most  highly  skilled  in  Western  knowledge ; 
they  must  understand  science  and  be  able  to  meet 
a  follower  of  Haeckel  in  debate,  they  must  be  com- 
petent to  discuss  sociology  with  disciples  of  Herbert 
Spencer,  and  they  must  not  be  afraid  to  dip  into  the 


264  CHANGING  CHINA 

study  of  comparative  religion  ;  in  addition,  they  must 
be  qualified  to  write  excellent  Chinese  and  to  be  firm 
in  their  Christian  faith.  The  production  of  such  men 
as  these  should  also  satisfy  the  seventh  and  last  aim 
of  Christian  education  :  it  will  associate  learning  with 
Christianity  in  the  minds  of  the  Chinese.  The  key- 
note of  Chinese  thought  is  its  great  admiration  for 
learning.  In  China  there  is  no  caste  or  class,  no 
division  except  between  the  ignorant  and  the  learned ; 
if  Christianity  is  associated  with  ignorance,  its  influ- 
ence will  be  lost,  and  it  is  no  mean  object  to  make 
Christianity  and  knowledge  in  the  mind  of  the  China- 
man two  parts  of  one  great  idea. 

It  is  obvious  that  as  missionary  societies  lay  weight 
on  one  or  the  other  of  these  objects,  they  will  support 
a  different  kind  of  school.  If  their  object  is  the  first, 
they  will  seek  to  educate  the  orphan  and  the  waif, 
and  the  school  and  the  orphanage  will  be,  as  they  are 
in  the  Roman  Catholic  body,  intimately  joined  to- 
gether. If  the  object  is  to  edify  the  Christian  body 
and  to  provide  it  with  a  suitable  pastor,  the  mis- 
sionary body  will  erect  primary  schools  for  Christian 
children  and  theological  and  normal  schools  to  com- 
plete their  school  system.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
missionary  body  aims  at  leavening  the  whole  thought 
of  China,  of  capturing  China  for  Christ,  or  if  it 
aims  at  defending  China  against  the  terrible  pest  of 
Western  materialism — which  will  turn  the  light  that 
China  now  has  into  black  darkness  and  harden  her 
for  ever  against  Christian  teaching — the  High  School, 


EDUCATION,  CHIEFLY  MISSIONARY  265 

College,  and  the  University  will  be  the  objects  on 
which  the  money  will  be  spent.  This  last  has  been 
the  object  of  the  American  bodies ;  and  I  think  China 
owes  a  great  debt  of  gratitude,  under  God,  to  the 
great  width  of  thought  and  grasp  of  the  situation 
that  the  American  mind  has  exhibited. 


CHAPTER  XXII 


GOVERNMENT  EDUCATIONAL  SYSTEM 

One  of  the  highest  testimonials  to  the  wisdom  of  the 
missionaries  in  inaugurating  an  educational  policy- 
has  been  given  by  the  Chinese  Government.  Imita- 
tion is  the  sincerest  flattery,  and  missionary  education 
has  its  imitator  in  no  less  a  body  than  the  Chinese 
Government.  The  Chinese  have  always  loved 
education,  but  the  education  they  admired  was 
the  literary  education  which  had  for  its  commence- 
ment the  Chinese  character  and  for  its  end  the 
Chinese  Classics ;  their  system  of  teaching  was 
different  from  our  own ;  they  were  far  greater 
believers  in  learning  by  rote  than  the  most  con- 
servative English  schoolmaster  who  ever  set  a  long 
repetition  lesson  to  his  pupils.  It  is  a  strange  sight 
to  see  an  old-fashioned  Chinese  school,  the  boys  all 
shouting  out  at  the  top  of  their  voices  the  names 
of  the  characters  whose  meaning  they  do  not  under- 
stand. An  essential  part  of  the  performance  is  the 
clamorous  shouting  ;  the  louder  they  shout,  the 
harder  they  are  working  and  the  quicker  they 
think  they  learn,  so  when  the  visitor  surprises  a 
class  their  voices  are  not  raised  above  a  pleasant 
and   reasonable   elevation,  but   after  he  has  been 

266 


EDUCATIONAL  SYSTEM  267 

discovered  by  the  class,  the  shouts  increase  in 
volume  till  the  noise  is  only  to  be  compared  to  the 
paroquets  cage  in  the  Zoological  Gardens. 

Another  peculiarity  of  the  school  is  that  all  the 
pupils  turn  their  backs  to  their  master ;  the  doctrine 
being  that  if  they  were  allowed  to  watch  their  master, 
it  would  be  perfectly  impossible  for  him  to  detect 
their  many  little  acts  of  dishonesty.  The  missionaries 
at  first  painfully  imitated  these  schools ;  they  felt 
that  it  was  impossible  to  trust  the  children  of  their 
converts  to  the  heathen  atmosphere  of  a  Chinese 
school,  and  at  the  same  time  they  realised  what 
great  value  and  importance  was  placed  by  the 
Chinese  on  education.  These  schools  led  on  to  a 
sort  of  middle  school  called  "shu-yuen,"  which 
existed  in  all  big  towns,  which  in  its  turn  led  on 
to  four  Universities,  but  they  have  been,  I  believe, 
for  some  time  in  an  inefficient  condition.  Still  for 
good  or  for  evil  the  system  was  there,  and  long 
before  our  own  new  departure  in  education,  the 
Chinese  were  quite  accustomed  to  the  idea  that 
the  boy  who  had  sufficient  ability  might  climb  the 
ladder  of  learning,  from  class  to  class,  from  school 
to  school,  till  at  last  he  took  the  coveted  Hanlin 
Degree.  So  high  a  value  did  the  Chinese  place  on 
education,  that  it  was  possible,  and  it  did  indeed 
happen,  that  boys  of  the  very  humblest  parentage 
climbed  that  ladder  till  they  reached  the  most 
exalted  positions. 

The  first  sign  of  an  alteration  of  this  system  was 


268  CHANGING  CHINA 


the  book  that  was  issued  after  the  Chinese-Japanese 
war  by  Chang- Chih-Tung.  That  remarkable  states- 
man realised  after  China's  crushing  defeat  that  a 
general  reform  was  absolutely  necessary  if  she  was 
to  maintain  her  place  among  the  free  and  independent 
nations  of  the  world,  and  he  wrote  a  book  entitled 
**  China's  Only  Hope,"  in  which  he  strongly  advo- 
cated the  acceptance  in  some  measure  of  Western 
education.  His  scheme  is  the  one  which  practically 
obtains  now  in  China,  that  is  of  making  Chinese 
learning  the  foundation  on  which  Western  educa- 
tion is  to  be  placed.  He  had  a  great  disbelief,  like 
most  Chinese,  in  the  difficulty  of  acquiring  Wes- 
tern education.  He  writes  :  "  Comparative  study  of 
foreign  geography,  especially  that  of  Russia,  France, 
Germany,  England,  Japan,  and  America ;  a  cursory 
survey  of  the  size  and  distance,  capital,  principal 
ports,  climate,  defences,  wealth,  and  power  of  these 
(the  time  required  to  complete  this  course  ten  days)." 
It  is  very  hard  for  the  Chinese  literati  to  understand 
the  difficulties  of  acquiring  Western  learning.  Chang 
was  a  man  of  no  mean  intellect,  and  one  of  the 
reasons  why  he  was  so  anxious  to  preserve  Chinese 
learning  was  because  he  realised  the  destructive 
effect  Western  learning  has  on  Oriental  faiths.  He 
hoped  to  preserve  the  ethics  of  Confucianism  and 
to  attach  to  them  the  practical  knowledge  of  the 
West,  which  he  realised  was  a  necessity  for  China. 
He  summed  up  the  position  by  saying,  Western 
knowledge  is  practical,  Chinese  learning  is  moral." 


EDUCATIONAL  SYSTEM  269 

The  immediate  result  of  this  book  was  absolutely 
the  reverse  of  what  its  author  intended.  A  million 
copies  of  the  book  had  been  issued,  and  it  cir- 
culated throughout  China.  It  raised  a  storm  of 
opposition,  and  probably  was  one  of  the  causes 
which  produced  the  Boxer  outbreak ;  but  the  failure 
of  Boxerdom  and  the  Busso-Japanese  war  convinced 
China  that  Chang-Chih-Tung  was  right,  and  his 
book  may  now  be  taken  as  the  book  which  best 
expresses  the  intellectual  position  of  the  moderate 
reformer. 

He  first  deals  with  that  very  difficult  question  of 
finance.  He  proposes  to  finance  the  schools  with  a 
wholesale  disendowment  of  the  two  religions  in  which 
he  does  not  believe,  Buddhism  and  Taoism.  He  writes  : 
Buddhism  is  on  its  last  legs,  Taoism  is  discouraged 
because  its  devils  have  become  irresponsive  and  ineffi- 
cacious." He  then  suggests  that  seven  temples  out 
of  ten  should  be  used  both  as  regards  their  building 
and  their  funds  for  educational  purposes.  But  he 
has  a  sympathetic  way  of  treating  the  disendowed 
clergy  of  China.  He  suggests  that  they  could  be 
comforted  by  a  liberal  bestowal  of  official  distinction 
upon  themselves  and  upon  their  relatives.  Who  can 
tell  if  Welsh  Disestablishment  would  not  be  popular 
if  all  the  clergy  were  to  be  made  archdeacons  and 
their  brothers  and  fathers  knights.  But  he  has 
a  historical  precedent  for  disendowment — Buddhism 
has  apparently  experienced  the  process  of  disendow- 
ment three  times ;  but  as  the  last  disendowment  was 


270  CHANGING  CHINA 


in  846,  on  our  side  of  the  world  we  should  not 
regard  it  as  a  precedent  of  much  value. 

In  establishing  schools  he  adopts  five  principles. 
The  first  is  one  to  which  we  have  already  referred, 
that  the  new  and  the  old  are  to  be  woven  into  one, 
the  Chinese  Classics  are  to  be  made  by  some  magical 
process  the  foundation  of  the  teaching  of  Western 
education.  The  second  is  a  very  un -Western  but  pos- 
sibly a  sound  way  of  looking  at  the  question.  He 
puts  forward  two  objects  of  education  :  first,  govern- 
ment ;  secondly,  science.  The  first  includes  all  know- 
ledge necessary  for  the  government  of  mankind — 
geography,  political  economy,  fiscal  science,  the  mili- 
tary art,  and  though  he  does  not  mention  it,  I  sup- 
pose history.  The  second  is  natural  science,  and 
includes  mathematics,  mining,  therapeutics,  sound, 
light,  chemistry,  &c.  The  third  principle  is  one  that 
we  rarely  act  on  in  our  own  country,  namely,  that 
the  child  shall  be  only  educated  in  the  subjects 
for  which  he  has  a  natural  aptitude.  The  fourth 
principle  is  one  that  applies  absolutely  to  China  ;  it 
is  the  abolition  of  what  is  called  the  three-legged 
essay,  a  complicated  feat  of  archaic  and  artificial 
writing  which  only  exists  for  the  purpose  of  exami- 
nation, something  analogous  to  our  Latin  verses. 
The  fifth  principle  shows  that  China  is  as  far  ahead 
of  us  in  some  ways  as  she  is  behind  us  in  others. 
China  has  passed  beyond  the  stage  of  free  education 
to  the  stage  of  universal  scholarship ;  all  students 
are  paid,  and  this  has  brought  about  a  great  abuse ; 


EDUCATIONAL  SYSTEM         27 1 

men  study  merely  to  obtain  a  living  who  have  no 
aptitude  for  learning,  and  on  whom  educational 
money  is  really  wasted,  and  so  he  abolishes  payment. 

His  Excellency  closes  his  advice  with  a  suggestion 
that  societies  for  the  promotion  of  education  should 
be  formed.  The  Chinaman  loves  these  little  social 
clubs  and  gatherings.  His  chess  club,  his  poetry  club, 
his  domino  club,  are  national  institutions.  Why  not, 
suggests  His  Excellency,  have  an  educational  club, 
or  as  I  suppose  we  should  call  it,  a  mutual  improve- 
ment society.  Thus  wrote  the  great  Viceroy  who 
more  than  any  other  man  prevented  the  spread  of 
the  Boxer  outbreak  from  desolating  Central  and 
Southern  China.  During  that  Boxer  rebellion  all 
advance  was  impossible,  but  after  that  overflowing 
flood  of  disorder  was  passed,  the  reforms  suggested 
by  Chang- Chih-Tung  began  to  be  seriously  considered, 
and  on  January  13,  1903,  an  Imperial  Edict  was  put 
forth  renovating  and  organising,  at  least  on  paper, 
the  whole  educational  system  of  China.  It  would 
not  be  China  if  there  were  not  a  great  deal  of  sound 
sense  in  that  edict ;  it  would  not  be  China  if  on 
paper  the  organisation  did  not  seem  to  be  per- 
fect ;  it  would  not  be  China  if  as  a  matter  of  fact 
the  whole  scheme  were  not  to  a  great  extent  a 
failure. 

The  scheme  was  very  complete.  It  began  at  the 
bottom  and  continued  through  every  grade  of  edu- 
cation to  the  top.  First  there  were  to  be  infant 
schools  ;  these  were  to  receive  children  from  three  to 


272  CHANGING  CHINA 


seven  years  old,  and  their  object  was  to  give  the  first 
idea  of  right  and  to  keep  the  children  from  the  dan- 
gers of  the  street.  These  schools  were  to  be  succeeded 
by  primary  schools  of  two  departments,  and  children 
were  to  enter  the  schools  as  they  left  the  infant 
school  when  they  were  seven  years  old,  and  to  con- 
tinue in  them  till  they  were  twelve.  The  subjects  to 
be  taught  were  morals,  Chinese  language,  arithmetic, 
history,  geography,  physical  science  and  gymnastics. 
At  present  there  was  to  be  no  compulsory  attendance, 
but  that  was  looked  forward  to  as  the  future  ideal. 
The  schools  were  to  be  free,  and  the  money  was  to 
be  produced  either  by  taxes  or  by  a  raid  on  some 
endowments,  notably  endowments  of  religion  or  of  the 
theatre — for  theatres  in  China  are  endowed.  Funds 
were  also  to  be  found  by  subscription,  and  titles  and 
ranks  were  promised  to  those  who  shall  open  schools ; 
unlike  our  own  country,  where,  alas,  the  spendmg  time 
on  education  for  the  poor  is  only  rewarded  by  abuse. 
These  primary  schools  would  lead  into  higher  schools, 
and  these  schools  would  be  the  last  on  the  ladder  of 
education,  in  which  only  Chinese  subjects  were  to  be 
taught.  Above  them  were  to  be  what  they  call 
middle  schools,  and  the  subjects  to  be  taught  are 
roughly  those  which  are  taught  in  our  High  Schools : 
the  Chinese  Classics,  Chinese  language  and  literature, 
foreign  languages  (one  at  least  to  be  obligatory), 
history,  geography,  physics,  chemistry,  science  of 
government,  political  economy,  drawing,  gymnastics  ; 
and  after  the  example  of  Western  schools,  singing 


EDUCATIONAL  SYSTEM  273 

would  be  also  taught.  These  schools  lead  on  to  the 
superior  schools  in  which  higher  branches  of  the 
same  subjects  are  taught.  These  schools  were  to  be 
divided  into  three  sections.  The  first  section  consists 
of  law,  literature,  and  commerce  ;  the  second  section 
of  sciences,  civil  engineering,  and  agriculture  ;  the 
third  section  of  medicine.  It  is  noteworthy  that 
English  is  necessary  for  those  who  are  learning  the 
first  two  sections,  while  German  is  compulsory  for 
those  who  are  learning  the  third  section — in  either 
case  a  third  language  may  be  added ;  and  these 
superior  schools  were  to  lead  on  to  a  University, 
in  which  there  were  to  be  eight  faculties.  The  first 
faculty  is  essentially  a  Chinese  one,  and  I  suppose 
would  be  best  expressed  to  our  thought  by  belles- 
lettres,"  but  it  includes  such  things  as  rites  and 
poetry  ;  the  second  faculty  is  that  of  law ;  the  third, 
history  and  geography ;  the  fourth,  medicine  and 
pharmacy  ;  the  fifth,  science  ;  the  sixth,  agriculture  ; 
the  seventh,  civil  engineering  ;  the  eighth,  commerce. 

The  University  course  was  to  take  three  years, 
and  there  was  to  be  a  University  installed  in  each 
province.  The  educational  system  was  to  be  perfected 
by  two  other  institutions — a  post-graduate  college 
where  research  was  to  be  undertaken,  and  a  normal 
college  which  was  to  be  divided  into  an  inferior  and 
a  superior  one  for  the  purpose,  the  one  of  preparing 
schoolmasters  for  the  village  schools,  the  other  for 
higher  education.  A  far  less  ambitious  scheme  for 
the  education  of  girls  has  been  added  to  this  by 

8 


274  CHANGING  CHINA 


an  edict  of  1907.  If  my  readers  have  waded  through 
this  scheme  I  am  afraid  that  they  will  have  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  China  has  nothing  to  learn  from 
Western  powers,  but  rather  she  ought  to  be  able  to 
teach  them  how  to  perfect  their  own  incomplete  system 
of  education ;  but  alas,  this  scheme  is  only  on  paper. 
In  the  province  where  H.E.  Yuan-Shih-Kai  ruled  the 
schools  approach  in  some  degree  to  the  level  of  Western 
efficiency.  In  every  other  province  that  I  visited  or 
heard  about,  the  results  of  this  edict  were  markedly 
disappointing;  the  only  exception  being  where  the 
Universities  had  been  organised,  not  in  the  form  or 
terms  of  the  edict,  but  by  Western  teachers  acting 
on  more  or  less  independent  lines.  For  instance, 
there  is  a  splendid  University  which  has  been  founded 
by  Dr.  Timothy  Richard  in  Shansi. 

That  University  has  a  curious  history.  After  the 
Boxer  massacres  compensation  was  demanded  by  the 
Powers  both  for  the  buildings  that  were  destroyed 
and  for  the  missionaries  that  were  killed.  A  certain 
number  of  the  missionary  bodies  refused  absolutely 
to  take  any  compensation.  Animated  by  the  spirit 
of  the  early  Christian  Church,  they  would  not  allow 
that  the  blood  that  had  been  shed  for  the  sacred 
cause  could  be  paid  for  in  money.  At  this  juncture 
there  threatened  to  be  rather  an  impasse.  The 
Western  Government  were  insisting  on  compensation, 
and  it  was  doubtful  and  uncertain  how  that  compensa- 
tion should  be  paid.  The  Chinese  Government  sent 
for  the  Protestant  missionary  in  whom  they  had  the 


EDUCATIONAL  SYSTEM  275 

greatest  confidence,  Dr.  Timothy  Eichard,  and  he 
made  a  suggestion  which  was  at  once  acceptable  to 
both  the  Chinese  and  to  the  missionary  body,  that 
the  money  should  be  devoted  to  the  founding  of  a 
great  University ;  for  ignorance  is  the  most  common 
cause  of  fanaticism,  and  the  terrible  massacres  enacted 
in  China  would  never  have  taken  place  had  China 
understood,  as  Chang-Chih-Tung  did  understand,  that 
Western  science  and  enlightenment  were  for  the 
benefit  of  China ;  so  this  University  was  founded. 
It  was  founded  under  peculiar  terms.  It  is  under  the 
government  of  China,  and  yet  not  completely  so. 
Dr.  Timothy  Richard  is  for  a  certain  number  of  years 
one  of  its  governors,  and  he  has  for  ten  years  at  least 
the  control  of  the  "Western  side  of  the  education. 
He  is  supported  by  an  able  staff,  and  the  Rev.  W.  E. 
Soothill  is  the  existing  President.  At  the  end  of  the 
ten  years  which  are  just  running  out,  the  status  of 
the  University  is  to  be  altered,  and  is,  as  far  as  I 
understand,  to  return  to  the  ordinary  status  of  a 
Government  University.  I  need  hardly  say  that  this 
University  has  been  highly  satisfactory  in  its  teaching, 
and  lately  it  has  sent  many  of  its  students  to  England 
to  complete  their  education.  It  suffers,  however, 
from  the  absence  of  a  proper  preparatory  course. 
One  of  the  difficulties  that  lie  right  in  the  way  of 
Chang-Chih-Tungs  compromise  is  the  difficulty  of 
finding  time  for  a  Western  preparatory  course,  and 
that  is  only  equalled  by  the  difficulty  of  finding 
teachers.    Without  time  and  teachers  the  students 


276  CHANGING  CHINA 


arrive  at  the  University  period  of  their  lives  with  only 
a  very  elementary  knowledge  of  Western  subjects. 
This  college  can  hardly  be  cited  as  a  college  of 
high  governmental  efficiency,  but  should  rather  be 
regarded  as  an  example  of  the  good  that  a  man 
like  Dr.  Timothy  Richard  can  do  if  he  is  only 
allowed  scope. 

Another  Western  University  under  Chinese  Govern- 
ment control  is  the  one  at  Tientsin,  the  Pei-Yang 
University.  That  University  has  the  advantage  of 
being  well  supported  by  efficient  Government  schools 
at  Pao-ting-fu.  One  interesting  detail  about  the  Pao- 
ting-fu  school — a  fact  indeed  which  in  two  or  three 
ways  should  give  us  food  for  thought — is  that  it  is 
controlled  by  a  Christian  who  is  allowed  by  the 
Government,  against  their  own  regulations,  to  carry 
on  an  active  propaganda.  He  was  the  man  who, 
when  the  missionaries  were  murdered  at  Shansi,  at 
the  risk  of  his  life  brought  down  a  message  from  them 
written  in  blood  on  a  piece  of  stuff.  Perhaps  it  is  not 
extraordinary  to  find  that  such  a  man  is  producing 
excellent  work.  The  Pei-Yang  University,  however, 
falls  far  short  of  our  ideals  of  what  a  University 
standard  should  be.  Still,  as  far  as  it  goes,  it  is  very 
efficient.  It  is  taught  by  a  very  effective  body  of 
professors.  It  has  150  students,  and  teaches  law, 
mining,  and  engineering.  The  staff  is  American 
with  very  few  exceptions.  One  of  those  exceptions 
is  Mr.  Wang,  a  Chinese  gentleman  who  received  his 
education  in  London.   Very  little  philosophy  is  taught, 


EDUCATIONAL  SYSTEM  277 

only  three  hours  a  week  are  given  for  Chinese  learning, 
and  the  students  are  expected  to  acquire  a  sufficient 
knowledge  of  Chinese  subjects  before  they  come  to 
the  University.  The  American  professors,  who  proved 
to  be  a  delightful  set  of  men,  allowed  that  there  was 
no  real  scientific  training  given  in  this  school.  They 
gave  the  same  account  of  their  pupils  which  you  will 
hear  in  every  Chinese  school.  They  excelled  in 
algebra,  drawing,  and  in  the  most  stupendous  power 
of  committing  formulae  to  memory.  One  of  the  diffi- 
culties of  teaching  a  Chinese  class  is  that  they  have 
so  little  difficulty  in  learning  by  rote  that  they  much 
prefer  learning  the  text-books  by  heart  to  trying  to 
understand  them.  The  Law  School  in  the  Pei-Yang 
University  is  taught  by  a  man  who  has  no  knowledge 
of  Chinese  law.  This  is  one  of  the  small  mistakes 
made  by  American  educators  in  China,  which  I  think 
must  be  somewhat  misleading  for  China  in  the  future. 
To  learn  nothing  but  Western  law,  and  to  imagine 
that  that  Western  law  can  be  applied  directly  to  the 
Chinese  people,  is  to  make  the  same  mistake  that 
Macaulay  so  eloquently  condemned  in  the  old  East 
India  Company.  Such  a  system  of  teaching  can  only 
make  unreasonable  revolutionaries. 

These  two  examples  of  teaching  institutions  carried 
on  under  the  Chinese  Government  by  Western 
teachers  are  wholly  exceptional,  and  though  excel- 
lent in  their  way  are  unimportant,  and  having 
regard  to  the  vast  mass  of  the  population  of 
China  are  inconsiderable.     What  are  five  or  six 


278  CHANGING  CHINA 

hundred  students  to  a  population  of  four  hundred 
millions. 

I  must  reserve  the  account  of  what  I  saw  of  the 
schools  under  Chinese  management,  including  the 
Peking  University,  to  another  chapter. 


I 

CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE    SAME    IN  PRACTICE 

Any  one  who  has  read  the  preceding  account  of  the 
intentions  of  the  Chinese  Government  might  be  par- 
doned if  he  supposed  that  after  four  or  five  years 
those  intentions  had  borne  fruit  in  an  efficient  system 
of  pubHc  education.  But  one  who  has  resided  any 
time  in  China  would  only  smile  at  the  suggestion 
that  there  should  be  an  intimate  relation  between 
what  the  Chinese  Government  professes  to  do  and 
what  the  Chinese  Government  does.  A  Manchu 
Professor  whose  European  education  had  enabled 
him  to  appreciate  rightly  the  weaknesses  of  the 
Chinese  race,  said  with  great  candour,  '*In  China 
we  begin  things,  but  we  never  finish  them."  I  had 
the  privilege  of  seeing  over  some  twenty  Government 
schools  in  China,  and  the  truth  of  these  words  was 
very  obvious. 

My  hospitable  host  at  Nanking,  His  Excellency 
Tuan-Fang,  hearing  that  I  took  an  interest  in  educa- 
tion, declared  that  he  would  be  very  glad  that  I 
should  see  his  schools.  I  expressed  a  regret  that 
my  ignorance  of  the  language  would  impede  me  in 
thoroughly  understanding  what  was  being  taught. 
He  most  hospitably  said  that  I  could  myself  examine 


28o 


CHANGING  CHINA 


the  pupils  who  were  studying  Western  subjects,  and 
who  therefore  spoke  English  or  French,  and  that  my 
wife  should  examine  the  girls'  schools ;  that  we  should 
be  accompanied  by  two  interpreters  as  well  as  by  the 
Director  of  Education,  and  that  he  would  examine  the 
schools  in  any  branch  of  knowledge  that  I  chose.  So 
we  sallied  forth,  a  very  imposing  body,  and  I  was  asked 
to  select  what  schools  I  should  like  to  visit.  Of  course 
I  selected  the  higher  grade  schools  in  which  Western 
subjects  were  taught.  The  first  school  on  which  we 
descended  was  the  Agricultural  College.  The  teachers 
of  Western  subjects  were  two  Japanese  and  one  China- 
man. They  were  being  taught  in  Chinese,  but  I  had 
no  difficulty  in  finding  out  in  the  first  room  we 
entered  what  they  were  learning,  because  the  illustra- 
tions were  well  known  to  me,  for  they  formed  part  of 
a  book  of  elementary  botany  which  I  had  at  one  time 
studied.  I  suggested  to  Mr.  Tseng,  the  interpreter, 
that  the  right  course  would  be  to  ask  the  Japanese 
master  to  select  his  best  pupils  and  that  then  he  should 
examine  them  while  I  should  suggest  the  questions. 
It  soon  became  clear  that  all  the  Japanese  teacher 
was  doing  was  to  teach  them  to  copy  the  illustrations 
in  the  book  and  nothing  else.  For  the  first  time  we 
noticed  what  we  afterwards  discovered  to  be  the 
invariable  rule,  that  the  Japanese  are  most  perfect 
draughtsmen,  and  that  every  class  taught  by  the 
Japanese  always  learnt  to  draw  perfectly,  though  they 
learnt  little  else.  The  Chinese  were  rather  pleased  that 
the  Japanese  teacher  cut  such  a  sorry  figure.  We  then 


THE  SAME  IN  PRACTICE  281 


went  to  the  next  room.  Again  there  was  a  Japanese 
teacher  professing  to  explain  the  model  of  a  steam- 
engine  ;  again  the  pupils  were  obviously  ignorant ; 
again  we  bowed  and  they  bowed  and  we  left  the 
room. 

The  next  room  had  quite  a  different  atmosphere. 
Obviously  efficient  work  was  going  on.  The  men 
were  learning  elementary  chemistry.  The  teacher 
was  a  Chinaman  who  had  been  trained  in  London  and 
spoke  English  perfectly.  He  was  as  straightforward 
as  he  was  efficient.  He  frankly  said  that  the  progress 
that  his  pupils  had  made  was  very  limited  because  of 
the  short  time  that  they  had  been  at  work.  We  con- 
gratulated him  on  the  efficient  way  he  was  managing 
his  class,  and  were  interested  to  hear  afterwards  that 
he  was  a  Christian.  More  than  once  we  came  across 
Christian  Chinese,  and  did  not  know  till  later  that 
they  were  Christians,  but  were  struck  by  their 
efficiency,  which  sprang  doubtless  from  a  high  ideal 
of  work. 

We  left  the  Agricultural  College  and  then  pro- 
ceeded to  a  High  School,  which  is  the  name  that  is 
given  to  a  ffi?st-grade  school  that  precedes  the  Uni- 
versity, and  which  at  present  stands  in  its  place.  We 
had  in  this  school  much  the  same  experience.  A 
Japanese  teacher  was  teaching  biology  and  was  dis- 
secting a  river  mussel.  This  was  done  in  such  a 
position  that  only  two  men  could  see  what  was  going 
on.  I  wondered  at  this.  Then  we  found  out  that  he 
could  not  speak  a  word  of  Chinese.    He  dissected  the 


282  CHANGING  CHINA 


mussel  and  professed  to  give  a  lecture  on  its  anatomy 
to  a  pupil  who  understood  Japanese,  and  then  the 
pupil  delivered  the  lecture  to  the  rest  of  the  class. 
My  Chinese  interpreters  were  of  opinion  that  very 
little  could  filter  through  the  class  in  this  way,  but 
the  Director  of  Education  smiled  sweetly.  He 
obviously  felt  that  in  some  mysterious  way  Western 
education  was  percolating  to  the  pupils  under  his 
charge.  As  we  returned  along  the  corridor  I  glanced 
in.  The  biological  lecture  was  over  ;  I  expect  it  was 
the  only  one  of  the  session,  and  the  pupils  went  away 
with  admirable  pictures  of  the  river  mussel.  If  the 
Japanese  teachers  only  set  up  for  teachers  of  drawing, 
I  am  certain  they  would  have  no  equals  in  the  world.  A 
little  further  on  in  the  same  building  there  was  a  pro- 
fessed teacher  of  drawing.  The  class  was  not  a  selected 
class,  they  were  drawing  from  a  cast  of  a  well-known 
Greek  statue,  and  the  work  was  simply  admirable.  I 
am  confident  that,  except  in  an  art  school,  you  would 
not  find  better  work  in  Europe.  In  the  next  room  there 
was  a  science  teacher.  To  impress  the  Director  of 
Education,  he  rashly  set  a  machine  for  demonstrating 
the  vibration  of  sound  at  work.  The  machine  would 
not  demonstrate  anything,  much  to  the  joy  of  my 
Chinese  friends,  solely  for  the  reason  that  he  had 
not  wound  it  up. 

I  should  tire  my  readers  if  I  were  to  go  on 
describing  room  after  room.  I  cannot  of  course  be 
certain  how  far  these  Japanese  teachers  had  taught 
science,  but  at  any  rate  their  pupils  had  not  ac- 


THE  SAME  IN  PRACTICE  283 

quired  any  knowledge,  and  I  think  we  may  easily 
be  too  hard  on  the  Japanese.  One  must  remember 
that  they  have  to  supply  teachers  for  all  their  own 
schools.  Is  it  likely  that  they  will  be  either  able  or 
willing  to  send  into  other  countries  efficient  teachers 
of  Western  education  ?  It  is  not  as  if  Western  know- 
ledge had  been  for  long  taught  in  Japan.  Their 
schools  are  now  many  and  they  were  few.  I  suppose 
no  man,  no  great  number  of  men  at  any  rate,  over 
thirty-five  or  forty,  are  equipped  with  an  efficient 
Western  education  in  Japan.  One  wonders  why 
they  allow  their  national  reputation  to  be  injured  by 
supposing  it  to  be  possible  for  them  to  supply  these 
teachers  of  Western  knowledge.  Political  motive 
suggests  itself  as  a  reason  why  a  country  so  proud 
and  so  ambitious  as  Japan  should  allow  a  course 
that  must  eventually  injure  her  reputation  as  an 
enlightened  power. 

The  next  school  we  went  over  was  very  interest- 
ing. It  was  what  is  called  a  Law  School.  The  men 
who  are  learning  in  this  school  will  be  the  future 
officials  of  China  ;  only,  following  the  Chinese  custom, 
they  will  rarely  or  never  hold  office  in  the  province 
in  which  they  were  born  and  educated.  They  were 
men  of  some  standing,  and  it  looked  strange  to  see 
all  these  senior  men,  over  sixty  in  number,  sitting 
like  children  at  the  school  desks.  They  were  dressed 
in  uniform,  and  were  under  a  sort  of  military  dis- 
cipline. The  senior  pupil  gave  the  word  of  command, 
and  at  once  the  class  sprang  to  attention  and  saluted 


284  CHANGING  CHINA 


us,  while  we  bowed  first  to  the  teacher,  then  to 
the  class,  after  which  the  examination  began.  They 
were  chiefly  taught  by  Chinese,  and,  as  one  might 
expect,  were  well  taught  in  the  Chinese  Classics. 
We  were  informed  that  the  Japanese  teacher  was 
teaching  them  Western  law  ;  but  in  answer  to  an 
inquiry  he  explained  that  he  had  not  yet  taught 
them  any  law,  but  that  he  was  teaching  them  the 
Japanese  language,  since  it  was  through  the  Japanese 
language  alone  a  knowledge  of  Western  law  could 
be  attained.  The  reason  seemed  very  inconclusive 
especially  when  one  remembers  that  the  Japanese 
know  and  write  Chinese  characters,  so  that  it  is  easy  to 
get  any  work  that  is  printed  in  Japan  printed  in  the 
character  which  every  Chinaman  can  read.  I  have 
before  explained  the  peculiar  merit  of  the  Chinese 
character  is  that  people  who  speak  different  dia- 
lects and  even  languages  can  read  it  equally  well. 
I  pointed  all  this  out  to  my  Chinese  friends.  I  think 
their  suspicions  too  were  aroused.  Certainly  this 
experience  lends  colour  to  the  suggestion  that  Japan 
hopes  that  the  Manchu  dynasty  will  be  succeeded, 
not  by  a  Chinese  dynasty,  but  by  a  dynasty  from 
a  race  whose  courage,  energy,  and  intellect  has 
already  humiliated  Russia  and  China,  and  may  not 
inconceivably  dominate  China,  should,  for  instance, 
Germany  and  England  go  to  war. 

We  then  went  to  see  some  classes  taught  by 
Americans.  Two  things  struck  me  in  those  classes. 
First,  for  some  reason  I  cannot  understand,  unless 


THE  SAME  IN  PRACTICE  285 


there  was  jealousy  at  work,  the  class  was  small  com- 
pared with  the  enormous  classes  which  I  had  seen 
elsewhere — thirty,  twenty,  or  even  fifteen  were  the 
numbers  that  white  men  were  teaching.  The  other 
thing  which  struck  lAe  was  that  the  selection  of 
subjects  might  be  improved.  For  instance,  one  of  the 
teachers  was  teaching  Anson's  Law  of  Contract ; 
one  could  scarcely  see  how  a  knowledge  of  the 
English  law  of  contract  could  be  very  beneficial  to 
a  resident  in  China ;  and  on  looking  over  the  book 
that  another  class  was  using,  I  found  that  they  were 
being  instructed  how  to  buy  an  advowson  in  England. 
I  cannot  of  course  say  that  the  class  was  actually 
taught  this  interesting  information,  but  it  was  cer- 
tainly in  their  text-book.  Another  text-book  was  a 
summary  of  the  history  of  the  world ;  it  was  issued 
by  an  American  firm.  On  looking  up  the  chapter 
which  referred  to  China  I  found  the  most  extreme 
expression  that  an  American  democratic  feeling  could 
prompt  used  with  regard  to  the  Emperor  of  China. 
I  pointed  this  out  to  the  Chinamen.  Apparently 
no  one  had  taken  the  trouble  to  glance  through  the 
books  that  were  being  used.  Such  action  is  regret- 
table, because  it  inevitably  brings  Western  education 
into  disrepute,  and  suggests  it  to  be  something  essen- 
tially revolutionary. 

Another  curious  experience  was  to  find  a  Can- 
tonese Chinaman  teaching  a  science  class  in  English 
because  he  did  not  know  Mandarin.  It  will  be  one 
of  the  limitations  to  the  usefulness  of  the  Hong-Kong 


286  CHANGING  CHINA 


University  that  the  bulk  of  the  students  who  attend 
it  will  be  Cantonese-speaking  Chinamen,  and  they 
will  therefore  be  inefficient  as  teachers  to  the  great 
mass  of  the  Chinese  empire.  A  University  which 
hopes  to  produce  teachers  which  shall  teach  the 
whole  of  China  must  be  a  University  situated  in 
Mandarin-speaking  China. 

It  was  waxing  late  after  we  had  seen  these 
schools.  We  had  consumed  a  great  amount  of  the 
day  in  partaking  of  a  most  excellent  Chinese 
luncheon,  where  the  only  mistake  I  had  made — at 
least  the  only  one  of  which  I  was  conscious — was 
in  not  being  instructed  in  the  nature  of  the  enter- 
tainment. I  had  yielded  to  the  solicitations  of  my 
host  and  had  partaken  largely  of  the  first  two  or 
three  courses.  Later  on  in  the  luncheon  I  was 
divided  between  the  desire  to  be  polite  and  a  fear 
that  the  capacity  of  the  human  body  might  be 
exceeded.  Our  host  was  the  Director  of  Education, 
and  my  interpreter  whispered  to  me  that  he  had 
a  great  knowledge  of  cooking  and  that  '*he  loved 
a  dry  joke."  His  skill  as  a  Director  of  Education, 
especially  of  Western  subjects,  might  be  doubted ; 
but  as  a  kindly  host  and  an  amusing  companion  he 
would  have  few  equals  in  our  country.  This  aspect 
of  the  Chinese  official  too  often  escapes  the  Wes- 
tern critic  ;  whether  efficient  or  inefficient,  they  are 
always  agreeable  men.  After  luncheon  he  begged 
to  be  excused,  as  he  had  a  visit  of  ceremony  to 
pay ;  it  was  the  birthday  of  a  dear  friend's  mother. 


THE  SAME  IN  PRACTICE  287 

His  official  robes  were  brought  out,  and  clothed  in 
them  he  took  his  seat  in  a  sedan  chair  and  left  us. 

We  were  taken  on,  rather  unwillingly  I  fancied,  to 
see  the  Commercial  School.  The  hour  of  the  classes 
was  over,  but  still  the  school  was  really  instructive. 
What  was  so  remarkable  about  it  was  the  extreme 
simplicity  of  the  place  where  the  boys  lodged.  The 
school  is  not  maintained  by  Government,  but  by  the 
rich  Silk  Guild  of  Nanking.  Many  members  of  this 
Silk  Guild,  I  was  assured,  would  only  be  able  to  read 
and  write  enough  to  carry  on  their  business.  They 
are  a  rich  and  powerful  body,  and  this  school  is  in- 
tended for  their  sons.  The  dormitory  was  a  slate- 
covered  building  without  any  ceiling,  and  the  beds 
were  arranged  like  berths  on  board  ship,  one  on  the 
top  of  the  other,  with  narrow  passages  between  them. 
In  this  way,  of  course,  a  room  was  made  to  hold  a 
perfectly  surprising  number  of  individuals.  I  could 
not  help  remembering  the  Church  Army  Lodging- 
house  at  home.  If  we  arranged  the  beds  as  they 
were  arranged  in  that  room,  though  we  should  double 
or  treble  the  number  of  travellers  we  could  house,  we 
should  incur  the  wrath  of  the  sanitary  authority. 

Very  different  was  the  Naval  School.  Here 
reigned  efficiency,  for  the  Naval  School  is  imder  the 
partial  control  of  two  officers  lent  by  His  Majesty's 
Navy.  The  limit  of  their  control  was  the  limit  of 
their  efficiency.  For  instance,  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment sometimes  refused  to  let  their  naval  officers  be 
shown  an  actual  ship ;  their  idea  was  much  the  same 


288  CHANGING  CHINA 


as  that  of  the  lady  who  forbid  her  son  to  bathe  until 
he  had  learnt  to  swim.  The  difficulty  was  very  great 
for  anything  like  practical  instruction.  Continual 
representations  induced  the  Chinese  Government  to 
allow  the  boys  to  have  a  trip  on  the  river  in  an  old 
ship.  The  moment  this  was  accomplished  there  was 
great  self-congratulation  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese 
official ;  from  resisting  this  reasonable  suggestion  they 
changed  to  self-laudation  at  the  wisdom  of  accepting 
the  plan.  The  efficiency  of  the  teaching  was  not 
only  hindered  by  the  want  of  practical  knowledge, 
which  is  of  course  fatal  to  naval  efficiency,  but  these 
officers  had  also  to  complain  of  what  so  many  other 
Europeans  have  to  complain — first,  that  the  people 
whom  they  were  sent  to  teach  did  not  know  enough 
English,  so  that  much  of  their  time  was  spent  in 
teaching  elementary  English  ;  secondly,  that  their 
classes  were  not  large  enough.  Far  away  the  most 
effective  way  of  using  a  Western  teacher  would  be 
to  use  them  as  we  saw  them  used  in  one  school.  The 
AVestern  teacher  was  supported  by  two  or  three 
Chinese  assistants ;  he  gave  his  lecture  in  English, 
and  the  pupils  took  notes ;  then  the  assistants  went 
round  the  desks,  looked  at  the  notes,  and  explained 
in  Chinese  all  those  points  that  the  pupils  had  not 
fully  taken  in.  This  plan  has  another  advantage, 
that  it  trains  these  Chinese  teachers  to  continue  the 
work  of  a  Western  teacher,  and  in  some  ways  it  is  a 
more  efficient  system  than  the  normal  schools.  The 
Western  teacher  of  course  exercises  a  general  super- 


THE  SAME  IN  PRACTICE  289 

vision  over  his  class  and  maintains  order  and 
\  discipline. 

While  I  had  been  busy  with  the  boys'  schools,  my 
wife  had  been  busy  with  the  girls'  schools.  She  was 
taken  over  the  Viceroy's  School,  the  one  already  de- 
scribed where  the  little  girls  showed  such  surprising 
knowledge  of  the  Chinese  Classics.  Her  experience 
was  less  happy  than  mine.  The  children  were  being 
drilled  by  a  Japanese  instructress  who  could  hardly 
play  at  all ;  she  used  a  small  gem  harmonium,  and 
the  drilling  was  little  better  than  a  feeble  country 
dance.  The  same  instructress  was  responsible  for  a 
singing  lesson  ;  she  played  with  one  hand  on  a  har- 
monium, and  allowed  the  children  to  bawl  as  they 
pleased  without  either  time  or  tune.  All  the  pupils 
at  this  school  were  day  scholars. 

The  interpreter  who  conducted  Mrs.  King,  the 
I  Consul's  wife,  and  my  wife  over  this  and  the  follow- 
ing schools  had  removed  his  own  daughter  to  a 
I  mission  school,  thinking  she  would  receive  better 
1  teaching.  As  regards  the  musical  part  of  the  instruc- 
,  tion  there  can  be  no  question  but  that  he  was  right. 
:  The  next  school  she  saw  was  also  for  the  children  of 
I  the  gentry,  who  supported  it  by  subscriptions.  There 
t  were  140  girls,  fifty  of  whom  were  boarders  whose 
,  parents  paid  for  their  board.  These  fifty  young  ladies 
3  all  slept  in  one  room,  and  their  toilet  arrangements 
\  impressed  my  wife  as  anything  but  luxurious;  the 
}  effect  was  more  like  a  steerage  cabin  on  a  big  liner 
•  I     than  an  ordinary  school  dormitory.    The  class-rooms 

T 


290  CHANGING  CHINA 

were  all  on  the  ground  floor,  leading  from  courtyard 
to  courtyard  in  Chinese  house  fashion.  The  instruc- 
tion seemed  to  be  mainly  Chinese,  with  attention  paid 
to  geography,  drawing,  and  fancy  work,  English  being 
taught  by  a  young  Chinese  teacher  in  a  rather  ele- 
mentary way.  The  mistresses  appeared  in  dignified 
skirts,  no  doubt  as  a  symbol  of  authority. 

The  last  school  she  was  shown  was  larger  and  less 
exclusive.  It  was  well  organised,  the  classes  being 
arranged  with  sense  and  discriinination.  There  were 
200  pupils  of  all  ages  and  ranks,  the  school  being  a 
public  one.  They  were  mostly  dressed  in  black.  Ten 
lady  teachers  presided  over  this  school,  including  a 
normal  class  with  a  male  superintendent ;  the  whole 
in  Chinese  buildings.  The  teaching  comprised  Con- 
fucian ethics,  the  Chinese  characters,  arithmetic, 
geography,  drawing  from  flat  copies,  and  English 
given  by  a  young  Chinese  girl  who  had  been  educated 
in  a  Shanghai  mission  school. 

The  instruction  seemed  to  be  good  on  the  whole. 
About  one-fourth  of  the  scholars  boarded  at  the 
school.  Attached  to  it  was  a  kindergarten  managed 
rather  sleepily  by  two  Japanese.  Again  the  children's 
singing  was  hardly  worthy  of  the  name.  My  wife 
was  impressed  by  the  inferiority  of  the  Government 
girls'  schools  to  the  mission  girls'  schools  in  almost 
every  particular.  Doubtless  they  will  soon  improve, 
but  at  present  the  Government  does  not  seem  able 
to  obtain  efiicient  teachers,  and  is  much  too  inclined 
to  spend  vast  sums  on  prtictically  useless  apparatus 


THE  SAME  IN  PRACTICE  291 

— useless  because  the  instructors  do  not  understand 
how  to  use  it. 

Our  experiences  at  Nanking  were  extremely  inter- 
esting, but  they  were  not  exceptional.  We  saw  over 
'  Government  schools  at  Wuchang,  again  at  Changsha, 
and  also  we  saw  something  of  the  Peking  University. 
At  Changsha  matters  were  not  nearly  so  far  advanced 
as  they  were  at  Nanking.  There  were  the  same 
Japanese  teachers,  one  of  whom  taught  English,  but 
I  could  not  get  a  single  copy-book  produced  to  show 
how  far  they  had  advanced  in  the  knowledge  of  this 
language.  There  were  the  same  American  teachers ; 
good  men,  but  unable  to  do  much  owing  to  their  want 
of  knowledge  of  Chinese,  and  owing,  as  I  said  before, 
to  a  certain  jealousy  which  prevented  them  having  a 
suflScient  number  of  pupils.  The  very  excellent  school 
which  is  carried  on  at  Shanghai,  under  Western 
management,  forms  a  good  contrast  to  the  others. 
This  school  does  not  profess  to  teach  very  advanced 
I  subjects,  but  it  teaches  ordinary  English  subjects  most 
'  efficiently.  The  system  is  this :  the  boys  are  first 
taught  in  Chinese,  while  they  are  acquiring  the  rudi- 
ments of  Western  knowledge  and  of  the  English 
language ;  they  are  then  transferred  to  a  class  which 
is  taught  in  English  by  Chinese ;  here  they  acquire 
from  their  own  countrymen  a  very  thorough  knowledge 
of  English  and  a  tolerable  knowledge  of  Western  sub- 
1  jects.  In  both  these  divisions  of  the  school  all  ex- 
planations are  given  in  Chinese.  After  they  have 
acquired  a  good  knowledge  of  English  they  are  then 


292  CHANGING  CHINA 

advanced  to  the  class  which  is  taught  by  an  English- 
man, who  has  some  knowledge  of  Chinese ;  here  they 
perfect  their  knowledge  of  English,  and  the  teacher 
can  if  necessary  explain  a  difficulty  by  the  help  of 
a  Chinese  word.  Lastly,  they  are  taught  absolutely 
in  English  by  an  Englishman  who  need  not  know 
any  Chinese,  as  it  is  never  used. 

At  Wuchang  the  schools  were  similar  to  those  of 
Nanking.  The  only  school  which  was  exceptionally 
interesting  was  the  School  of  Languages.  This  was 
managed  by  a  Manchu,  who  was  prompt,  exact,  and 
efficient — in  fact,  the  very  greatest  contrast  to  the 
usual  Chinese  official.  He  spoke  French  perfectly,  as 
he  had  been  brought  up  in  Paris  and  spent  some  time 
in  the  West.  In  a  few  words  he  showed  that  he 
understood  the  problem  of  education  in  China.  He 
told  me  that  his  nation  would  never  succeed  in  teach- 
ing their  nationals  Western  subjects  until  they 
selected  teachers  who  had  some  experience  in  the 
knowledge  and  in  the  art  of  teaching,  and  that  the 
habit  of  regarding  all  Westerners  as  capable  of  teach- 
ing all  Western  subjects  must  produce  disaster.  He 
boldly  professed  himself  a  Roman  Catholic,  and 
was  one  of  several  examples  that  came  under  my 
notice  of  the  wonderful  influence  that  Christianity 
has  on  the  formation  of  a  vigorous  character.  The 
boys  had  been  very  well  taught  in  English  and 
French,  and  I  gathered  in  German  and  Russian  as 
well.  Certainly  if  China  gets  such  men  to  lead  her, 
she  need  have  little  fear  of  the  power  of  the  West. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 


DIFFICULTIES  IN  THE  WAY  OF  EDUCATION 

The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  education  differ  in 
Government  schools  and  in  Mission  schools.  If  the 
Chinese  Government  could  unite  the  Government 
schools  to  the  Mission  schools,  they  would  overcome 
all  these  difficulties,  and  they  would  have  a  most 
perfect  system  of  Western  education.  Of  all  the  diffi- 
culties lying  in  the  way  of  Government  schools,  first 
and  foremost  is  the  fundamental  weakness  of  China, 
that  weakness  which  is  endangering  her  national 
existence,  a  weakness  which  I  fear  she  will  never 
completely  siurmount  until  she  accepts  a  higher  ideal. 
For  her  weakness  is  the  universal  greed  for  gain. 
Resident  after  resident  reported  the  same  cause  of 
weakness,  that  a  Chinaman  cannot  resist  taking  his 
"  squeeze " — that  is,  his  commission.  It  is  not  of 
course  so  dishonest  as  it  would  be  on  our  side  of  the 
globe,  because  a  Chinaman  is  more  or  less  avowedly 
paid  by  these  commissions,  and  therefore  in  many 
ways  they  are  rather  equivalent  to  the  fees  paid  by 
an  Englishman  to  a  Government  office  than  to  illicit 
commissions,  the  acceptance  of  which  in  this  country 
is  punishable  by  law.    If  it  is  not  as  immoral,  it  is 

almost  as  deleterious  to  efficiency,  because  it  tends 

293 


294  CHANGING  CHINA 

to  make  officials  unreasonable  in  their  action.  To 
ask  the  reason  why  things  are  done  in  China,  is 
always  to  receive  the  answer  that  somebody  got  a 
"squeeze"  thereby. 

And  so  it  is  with  education.  As  we' wandered 
through  room  after  room  filled  with  apparatus  suffi- 
cient to  teach  thousands  of  students,  and  of  such  a 
complicated  nature  as  absolutely  to  confuse  those 
students  when  taught,  one  longed  that  a  tithe  of  this 
expenditure  could  have  been  used  for  that  modicum 
of  apparatus  which  is  necessary  to  make  not  a  few 
mission  schools  thoroughly  efficient.  Much  of  the 
apparatus  has  never  got  outside  its  packing  cases, 
and  perhaps  a  great  deal  had  better  permanently 
remain  there,  for  nothing  is  so  subversive  to  the 
proper  teaching  of  men  whose  great  defect  is  that 
they  have  never  handled  things  with  their  hands,  as 
to  give  them  complicated  apparatus  to  demonstrate 
the  most  recondite  laws  of  science.  A  great  scientific 
teacher,  when  consulted  about  the  apparatus  neces- 
sary for  elementary  science,  advised  plenty  of  bonnet 
wire,  glass  tubes,  and  one  or  two  other  little  things 
of  that  sort.  When  one  asks  why  the  Chinese  have 
been  so  lavish  in  their  expenditure  on  apparatus 
which  they  cannot  and  will  not  use,  the  reply  is 
the  same  old  answer — somebody  got  a  commission. 
Bui  I  think  beyond  that  there  is  a  real  belief  that 
education  is  a  matter  of  expensive  apparatus  —  a 
belief  which  is  not  altogether  unknown  on  this  side 
of  the  globe. 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  EDUCATION  295 

This  brinc^s  me  to  the  second  great  difficulty  in 
the  path  of  Government  education.  They  will  believe 
that  an  efficient  education  results  rather  from  having 
an  expensive  building  than  from  a  competent  teacher. 
I  have  before  had  occasion  to  refer  to  the  extreme 
simplicity  of  the  life  of  the  Chinese.  Many  of  the 
schools  were  housed,  and  very  comfortably  housed,  in 
Chinese  houses.  The  Chinese  house  always  looks 
out  on  a  courtyard,  and  courtyard  is  joined  to 
courtyard  by  passages.  The  rooms  are  only  divided 
from  the  courtyard  by  carved  wooden  screens  whose 
interstices  are  sometimes  filled  with  paper  and  some- 
times not.  They  are  eminently  sanitary — in  fact,  to 
a  large  extent  they  fulfil  the  requirements  of  the 
open-air  cure."  In  one  case  in  the  courtyard  were 
a  lot  of  basins  and  ewers,  and  the  boys  were  com- 
pelled to  have  a  wash,  which  if  extensive  must,  in  the 
winter,  have  been  extremely  unpleasant.  For  all  this 
I  expressed  my  sincere  admiration  to  my  friend  the 
Director  of  Education,  but  he  received  my  compli- 
ment much  in  the  same  spirit  with  which  a  mother 
accepts  your  assertion  that  her  child  is  far  prettier 
in  her  every -day  dress  with  tousled  hair  than  she  is 
in  her  Sunday  clothes,  as  with  hideous  tidiness  and 
pharisaic  pomp  she  wends  her  way  to  church.  My 
compliment  was  taken  almost  as  an  insult.  I  was 
then  shown  the  ideal  of  China,  a  huge  and  hideous 
building,  modelled  on  the  architecture  which  white 
men  deem  necessary  to  enable  them  to  support  the 
tropical  heat,  to  the  fatal  efiects  of  which  they  are 


296  CHANGING  CHINA 

so  sensitive ;  massive  walls  to  carry  the  heavy  roof ; 
huge  arched  verandahs  where  white  people  may  get 
the  breath  of  air  they  so  need.  Of  what  use  are  all 
these  to  a  race  who  cannot  understand  what  you 
mean  when  you  speak  of  the  heat  being  unhealthy, 
who,  however  sensitive  to  cold  and  wet,  flourish  in 
the  warmth  to  which  they  have  been  accustomed  all 
their  lives  ?  The  Chinese  do  not  admire  this  archi- 
ture  for  its  aesthetic  efiect ;  they  care  little  about 
its  heat-resisting  qualities.  They  like  it  because  it 
is  Western ;  because  Western  people  are  educated 
in  such  buildings ;  because,  I  suppose,  they  expect 
Western  learning  to  work  in  some  way  through  those 
massive  stone  walls  to  the  minds  of  the  pupils ;  and 
because  they  fancy  Western  ideas  would  be  more 
easily  understood  in  these  hideous  surroundings. 

Thirdly,  there  is  no  serious  effort  made  to  get  good 
teachers.  At  one  time,  I  understand,  they  had  in 
their  service  a  very  remarkable  body  of  men — men 
like  Professor  Martin  of  Peking — whose  knowledge 
was  only  equalled  by  the  sincerity  of  their  purpose. 
Lately  they  have  been  getting  rid  of  these  men  as 
fast  as  they  could,  the  cry  of  "  China  for  the  Chinese  " 
being  perhaps  responsible  for  this  movement ;  and 
they  have  endeavoured  to  replace  them  by  Chinese 
subjects  with  but  little  success.  They  have  therefore 
fallen  back  again  on  foreigners,  largely  on  Japanese. 
Tliese  men  are  some  of  them  very  able  and  qualified 
teachers  ;  some,  on  the  other  hand,  have  had  little  or 
uo  experience  of  teaching,  and  their  inefiiciency  tends 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  EDUCATION  297 

to  bring  all  foreign  teachers  into  disrepute.  Not  only 
must  the  teacher  have  a  special  knowledge  of  the 
art  of  teaching,  but  a  teacher  of  a  race  like  the 
Chinese,  with  different  traditions  to  our  own,  must 
well  understand  those  traditions.  We  can  best 
realise  the  enormous  difficulty  a  Chinese  student  has 
of  learning  from  a  Western  teacher  by  remembering 
how  impossible  it  is  for  any  of  us  to  understand 
something  that  is  put  from  a  Chinese  point  of 
view. 

If  the  Chinese  Government  want  efficient  foreign 
teachers,  they  must  not  pick  up  anybody,  but  they 
must  hold  out  inducements  to  young  men  to  come 
as  teachers,  and  must  give  them  security  of  tenure. 
If,  for  instance,  the  Chinese  Government  had  in  their 
service  such  an  efficient  body  of  men  as  could  be 
found  in  the  mission  schools,  they  would  have  no 
difficulty.  Another  difficulty  which  stands  in  the 
way  of  the  Chinese  schools  is  their  want  of  discipline. 
One  of  the  most  remarkable  developments  in  China  is 
the  school  strike.  They  have  undoubtedly  extra- 
ordinary powers  of  united  action,  but  the  school 
strike  originates  as  much  in  the  weakness  of  the 
teachers  as  it  does  in  the  remarkable  power  the 
Chinese  race  has  of  united  action ;  you  hear  of  it  all 
over  China,  and  it  is  sometimes  ludicrous,  sometimes 
serious.  One  school  struck  because  the  foreign 
teachers  required  the  pupils  to  pass  an  examination 
of  efficiency  before  they  would  give  them  a  testi- 
monial.    This  was  deemed  most  incorrect  by  the 


298  CHANGING  CHINA 

scholars,  who  held  a  doctrine  which  would  be  very 
attractive  to  our  own  undergraduates,  that  residence 
alone  was  a  sufficient  qualification  for  a  degree.  Many 
of  the  strikes  take  place  for  most  occult  reasons. 

And  this  brings  me  to  mission  schools,  for  strikes 
take  place  equally  with  them  as  in  Government 
schools.  They  occur  in  boys'  and  in  girls'  schools, 
and  for  the  most  un-understandable  reasons.  In  one 
school  the  strike  began  because  a  Chinese  teacher 
caught  hold  of  a  boy's  queue  and  dragged  him  by  it. 
The  boy's  face "  was  injured,  and  his  companions 
made  common  cause.  Another  strike  took  place  in 
a  girls'  school  because  a  girl  was  punished.  Of  course 
these  strikes  do  not  occur  where  there  is  an  efficient 
and  vigorous  teacher.  It  was  attempted,  for  instance, 
with  Archdeacon  Moule,  but  it  only  ended  in  the 
leaders  being  caned.  Still,  one  mission  had  its 
school  practically  ruined  by  one  of  these  strikes ;  it 
was  the  result  of  an  intrigue  by  an  unbelieving  teacher 
who  had  been  employed  by  mistake.  These  strikes 
are  not  a  very  great  difficulty  to  the  mission  when  it 
is  in  charge  of  efficient  and  experienced  men ;  a  little 
justice  and  firmness  apparently  soon  disposes  of  any 
unreasonable  resistance  to  authority,  and  tact  and 
knowledge  prevent  any  friction  which  may  result 
from  regulations  that  may  be  offensive  to  Chinese 
ideas. 

A  far  greater  difficulty  in  the  mission  schools  is  the 
question  of  finance.  The  Chinese  for  the  most  part 
pay  their  scholars  ;  the  result  is  that  the  mission  school 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  EDUCATION  299 

has  to  compete  not  only  against  a  free  school,  but 
against  a  school  in  which  pupils  are  paid  to  come, 
and  it  appears  as  if  it  would  be  almost  an  impossibility 
for  mission  schools  to  support  themselves  against  such 
competition.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  usually  found 
that  so  great  a  value  do  the  Chinese  put  on  the 
efficient  education  that  they  receive  in  the  mission 
school  that  they  are  willing  to  pay  a  reasonable  fee 
rather  than  be  paid  for  the  useless  education  given 
by  the  Government  school.  Still  it  makes  finance  a 
certain  difficulty.  Many  of  the  schools  are  largely 
self-supporting ;  others  rely  on  fees  to  find  board 
and  lodgings  for  the  pupils  and  the  salaries  of  the 
native  teachers.  So  that  every  school  more  or  less 
carries  a  great  financial  burden. 

The  great  difficulty  of  mission  schools  at  the 
present  time  springs  partially  from  Government 
action.  The  ideal  of  every  Chinaman  is  at  present 
to  be  in  the  service  of  the  Government ;  we 
must  emphasise  that  word  **at  present,"  because 
undoubtedly,  owing  to  the  railway  development  of 
China,  a  wealthy  commercial  class  must  arise  all  over 
her  land,  as  it  has  already  risen  in  the  great  port 
towns.  This  class  will  be  independent  of  Government 
and  will  be  the  class  that  needs  Western  education 
more  than  any  other  class,  for  they  will  be  in  inti- 
mate contact  with  the  West.  But  at  present  those 
who  seek  a  higher  education  hope  for  the  most  part 
for  Government  employment.  One  of  the  rules  of 
Government  employment  is  that  the  officials  shall  on 


300  CHANGING  CHINA 

certain  days  repair  to  the  various  temples  to  re- 
present the  Emperor,  and  it  is  naturally  held  that 
such  action  is  impossible  for  a  Christian.  Besides 
this,  the  Government  makes  it  extremely  hard  if  not 
impossible  for  a  Christian  to  go  to  its  University  at 
Peking.  All  teachers  and  pupils  in  a  Government 
school  are  required  on  the  Emperor's  birthday  to  bow 
down  or  kow-tow  to  the  tablet  of  Confucius.  Mis- 
sionaries hold  that  such  action  is  not  consistent  with 
the  Christian  faith,  and  therefore  the  mission  school 
is  very  loath  to  send  its  Christian  pupils  on  to  the 
Government  University. 

It  must,  however,  be  stated  that  several  Chinese 
scholars,  including  a  Christian,  have  indignantly 
denied  that  the  kow-towing  to  the  tablet  of  Con- 
fucius implies  anything  more  than  the  respect  due 
to  the  greatest  thinker  that  China  ever  possessed. 
We  had  the  privilege  of  being  shown  over  Peking 
University  by  an  extremely  able  and  pleasant 
Chinese  gentleman,  a  Christian.  He  showed  us  the 
tablet  of  Confucius  and  explained  to  us  the  ceremony. 
It  must  be  owned  that  externally  there  was  but 
little  that  one  could  associate  with  the  idea  of 
divinity.  The  tablet  was  behind  a  glass  case,  and  at 
first  it  suggested  some  sort  of  educational  apparatus. 
The  desks  were  placed  at  right  angles  to  it,  so  that 
it  did  not  actually  occupy  what  could  be  regarded 
as  the  chief  place  in  the  room.  The  gentleman  who 
showed  us  over  strenuously  denied  that  any  of  the 
pupils  in  Peking  Government  University  could  regard 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  EDUCATION  301 

Confucius  as  God.  None  were  admitted  to  the 
University  except  those  who  were  already  well 
versed  in  the  Chinese  Classics,  and  they  knew  per- 
fectly well  that  in  these  Classics  Confucius  said  that 
he  had  no  supernatural  power ;  while  the  leading 
commentator  on  Confucius,  the  man  whose  teaching 
had  more  than  any  other  influenced  modern  Con- 
fucianism, was  avowedly  an  agnostic,  and  therefore, 
so  far  from  regarding  the  tablet  as  divine,  it  would 
be  nearer  the  truth  to  say  that  the  greater  bulk 
of  the  scholars  disbelieve  in  the  idea  of  God  alto- 
gether, or  at  any  rate  hold  an  agnostic  position 
with  regard  to  it.  When  I  put  these  difficulties 
to  an  eminent  missionary  the  answer  was,  yes,  but 
by  a  late  edict  they  have  made  Confucius  equal  to 
heaven  and  earth,  and  so  whatever  doubts  there 
were  before  have  been  resolved,  and  the  Chinese 
Government  has  decreed  to  Confucius  divine  honour. 
I  put  this  criticism  to  an  able  civil  servant  in  the 
employ  of  the  Chinese  Government,  and  he  answered 
that  that  decree  was  really  intended  to  have  the 
opposite  efiect.  The  Chinese  are  aware  that  they 
are  as  a  matter  of  fact  relegating  Confucius  to 
a  secondary  place  in  education,  and  they  are  there- 
fore most  anxious  to  propitiate  the  Confucian  scholars. 
They  have  compromised  the  matter  much  on  the 
same  system  that  we  use  in  the  West  with  regard 
to  some  politician  whose  services  have  been  valuable, 
but  who  is  actually  a  hindrance  in  the  House  of 
Commons.    Confucius  has  been  given  divine  honours 


302  CHANGING  CHINA 

as  the  worn-out  politician  in  England  is  given  a  peer- 
age ;  it  is  a  form  of  honourable  retirement.  A  very 
intellectual  Chinese,  however,  expressed  himself  quite 
otherwise,  saying  that  anybody  who  understood 
Chinese  views  would  have  grasped  the  meaning  of 
making  Confucius  equal  to  heaven  and  earth.  As 
heaven  and  earth  induce  the  wealth  of  mankind,  so 
has  Confucius  done  by  his  teaching ;  as  heaven  and 
earth  can  change  things  and  make  things  exist  that 
were  not,  so  with  Confucius;  but  that  Chinese 
theology  regards  heaven  and  earth  as  created  by 
the  one  God,  and  therefore  Confucius  is  put  in  the 
position  of  an  exalted  but  a  created  being.  What 
impresses  perhaps  the  Westerner  more  than  this 
rather  recondite  Chinese  reasoning  is  the  simple 
fact  that  while  by  the  Government  edict  it  is  decreed 
that  the  tablet  of  Confucius  shall  be  honoured  by 
three  bowings  and  nine  knockings,  it  is  also  or- 
dained that  the  schoolmaster  shall  be  honoured  by 
one  bowing  or  kow-tow  and  three  times  knocking 
the  ground  with  the  head.  The  similarity  of  the 
salute  to  the  schoolmaster  and  to  the  tablet  of 
Confucius  rather  disposes  of  the  idea  that  the  act 
of  reverence  to  the  tablet  involves  worship.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  pointed  out  that  this  is  the  main 
ceremony  that  is  observed  in  what  are  called  the 
temples  of  Confucius ;  but  when  this  was  put  to 
a  Chinaman,  his  answer  was  that  they  were  not 
temples,  and  if  there  had  been  any  worship  in 
those  temples,  they  would  have  been  frequented 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  EDUCATION  303 


as  much  by  the  women  and  children  as  by  the 
men,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  they  were  frequented 
only  by  literati.  When  it  was  suggested  that 
on  occasion,  however,  there  were  sacrifices  in  these 
temples,  he  did  not  deny  this,  but  changed  the 
subject. 

But  we  must  not  say  that  the  respect  and 
reverence  offered  to  Confucius,  whether  it  involves 
idolatry  or  not,  is  the  only  reason  why  Christian 
pupils  are  advised  not  to  go  to  the  Government 
Universities.  There  are  two  other  great  reasons. 
The  first  is  an  extremely  practical  one  :  the  education 
in  Government  Universities  is  avowedly  imperfect. 
The  fact  that  the  Government  have  subscribed  to  the 
English  University  at  Hong-Kong  and  to  the  German 
College  in  Shantung  show  that  they  are  aware  of 
their  own  shortcomings.  The  second  reason  is  that  the 
racial  characteristics  of  Chinamen  demand  that  they 
should  act  as  a  body.  An  acute  observer  asserted 
that,  as  far  as  he  was  able  to  judge  the  matter,  no 
Chinaman  ever  acted  independently ;  and  that  there- 
fore it  is  putting  a  burden  greater  than  the  race 
can  bear  to  ask  that  Christians  should  maintain  their 
Christianity  when  they  are  surrounded  by  an  unbe- 
lieving and  heathen  atmosphere ;  and  that,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  result  of  sending  students  to 
Government  Universities  would,  except  in  cases  of 
men  of  very  strong  character,  be  to  send  them  to 
unbelief  Yet  a  greater  and  simpler  objection  is 
that  these  Government  Universities  for  the  most 


304  CHANGING  CHINA 

part  do  not  exist,  and  that  it  is  impossible  for  small 
institutions  like  that  at  Peking  to  take  even  a  hun- 
dredth part  of  the  students  who  are  clamouring  for 
Western  education.  But  the  mission  schools  have 
another  and  a  newer  difficulty,  one  which  is  causing 
the  greatest  heart-searching.  This  I  must  reserve 
for  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XXV 


THE  NEED  OF  A  UNIVERSITY  EXPLAINED 

The  great  danger  that  threatens  mission  schools,  a 
danger  which  is  increasing  every  year,  is  that  the 
best  pupils  of  these  schools  have  to  go  to  Universities 
in  search  of  Western  knowledge  where  they  are  ex- 
posed to  the  insidious  attacks  of  Western  materialism. 

The  teachers  have  at  present  no  alternative  ;  they 
have  to  send  the  best  and  brightest  of  their  pupils 
somewhere  to  complete  their  education.  It  would  be 
unfair  on  a  boy  to  refuse  to  send  him  on,  and  if  he  is 
to  receive  a  higher  education,  where  can  he  get  it  but 
at  some  place  where  the  atmosphere  is  distinctly  anti- 
Christian. 

There  is  in  the  East  no  place  with  a  neutral 
atmosphere  as  there  is  in  the  West.  In  the  West 
most  people  have  had  some  Christian  training,  or 
at  least  they  comprehend  Christian  ethics.  So  in  a 
Western  institution,  even  if  the  education  be  wholl}^ 
secular,  a  Christian  does  not  find  everything  anti- 
pathetic to  his  faith.  But  in  the  East  the  vast 
majority  are  non-Christian,  and  consequently  the 
moral  and  intellectual  atmosphere  is  hostile  and 
antipathetic  to  a  Christian.  Here  if  an  institution 
is  non-religious  it  is  probably  not  hostile  to  religion. 


3o6  CHANGING  CHINA 

In  the  East  if  an  institution  is  non-religious  it  is 
probably  anti-Christian.  At  present  the  only  Uni- 
versity in  action  is  that  of  Tokio,  though  we  are 
promised  others,  and  its  ill  effects  have  been  so 
obvious  that  the  Chinese  Government  have  ordered 
a  wholesale  withdrawal  of  pupils  from  its  unhealthy 
influence. 

As  we  have  already  pointed  out,  Western  civilisa- 
tion is  magnificent  but  it  is  destructive,  and  when 
taught  without  any  constructive  religious  teaching  it 
inevitably  tends  to  destroy  all  spiritual  ideas  and  too 
often  also  to  pervert  the  moral  ideals  of  the  race.  As 
the  pupil  goes  through  the  mission  school  he  learns 
within  its  walls  to  shake  himself  free  from  the  haunt- 
ing fear  of  demons  which  besets  every  Chinaman  ;  he 
has  slowly  realised  that  God  is  holy,  good  and  loving, 
and  has  either  accepted  Christianity  or  stands  on  the 
threshold  of  the  formal  acceptance ;  he  has  reached 
the  end  of  the  curriculum  of  the  school  or  college  and 
his  brilliancy  demands  a  higher  education.  Attracted 
by  the  reputation  of  Tokio,  he  goes  to  its  University, 
and  there  he  finds  himself  in  an  atmosphere  where  all 
the  destructive  thought  of  Europe  grows  rankly ;  the 
good  God  in  whom  he  has  learned  to  believe  in  the 
mission  school  follows  in  the  track  of  the  demons  of 
his  youth,  and  he  is  left  believing  in  a  world  founded 
by  blind  chance,  where  ethics  are  things  of  service  to 
restrain  your  neighbour  but  folly  to  follow  yourself. 
*'  Eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die,"  is  the  lesson 
which  is  not  perhaps  taught  in  so  many  words,  but 


NEED  OF  UNIVERSITY  EXPLAINED  307 

which  none  the  less  is  forced  into  his  mind ;  his  views 
become  those  of  Falstaff ;  all  that  is  fine,  all  that  is 
noble,  flees  from  his  life ;  though  he  no  longer  believes 
in  the  God  of  Love,  he  does  not  return  to  the  belief 
in  the  demons  of  his  youth  ;  there  is  nothing  in  his 
world  beyond  getting  rich  or  gratifying  the  flesh  and 
laughing  at  those  people  who  believe  in  higher  ideals. 
He  has  been  acquainted  with  and  has  learnt  to  loathe 
from  his  youth  up  the  philosophy  of  Yang  Choo.  He 
has,  for  instance,  despised  such  a  sentence  as  this : 
"  The  people  of  high  antiquity  knew  both  the  short- 
ness of  life  and  how  suddenly  and  completely  it  might 
be  closed  by  death,  and  therefore  they  obeyed  every 
suggestion  of  the  movements  of  their  hearts,  refusing 
not  what  was  natural  for  them  to  like,  nor  seeking  to 
avoid  any  pleasure  that  occurred  to  them,  they  paid 
no  heed  to  the  incitement  of  fame ;  they  enjoyed 
themselves  according  to  their  nature;  they  did  not 
resist  the  common  tendency  of  all  things  to  self- 
enjoyment  ;  they  cared  not  to  be  famous  after  death. 
They  managed  to  keep  clear  of  punishment ;  as  to 
fame  and  praise,  being  first  or  last,  long  life  or  short 
life,  these  things  did  not  come  into  their  calcula- 
tions." And  now  he  finds  that  the  philosophy  of 
Yang  Choo  is  as  he  supposes  the  newest  thought  of 
the  great  rich  successful  Western  world;  as  he  re- 
turns to  his  home  and  spreads  abroad  the  poisonous 
doctrines  that  he  has  imbibed,  the  missionary  wonders 
whether,  after  all,  it  would  not  have  been  better  to 
have  left  the  man  to  his  primitive  demonology. 


3o8  CHANGING  CHINA 


The  American  mission  bodies  saw  this  danger  from 
the  first,  and  have  already  set  up  great  educational 
establishments  which  to  a  certain  extent  supply  this 
need.  That  great  institution  Bishop  Graves'  College 
at  Jessfield,  the  Boone  College  at  Wuchang,  the 
British  College  at  Weihsien,  and  Methodist  Univer- 
sities at  Soochow  and  Peking,  are  all  examples  of 
good  work.  But  they  do  not,  any  of  them,  bring 
the  student  up  to  what  we  call  University  standard, 
or  what  I  understand  is  called  in  America  the  post- 
graduate course  ;  what  is  felt  is,  that  there  is  need  of 
an  institution  in  which  the  highest  knowledge  shall 
be  taught,  where  the  true  aspect  of  Western  thought 
shall  be  shown — not  that  aspect  which  is  bringing 
France  to  destruction,  not  that  aspect  which  makes 
Belgium  unconcerned  at  the  Congo  scandals,  but  the 
aspect  which  both  in  America  and  in  England  we 
have  always  admired  at  least  in  theory,  and  in 
practice  when  we  have  been  strong.  The  funda- 
mental truth  on  which  our  civilisation  rests  is  that 
God  is  good,  and  that  therefore  truth  and  progress 
are  right  and  possible,  and  that  the  highest  expression 
of  the  goodness  of  God  is  in  His  incarnation  as  it  is 
universally  taught  by  Christians  of  various  views 
and  of  many  denominations.  The  West  owes  to  the 
East,  if  there  is  any  common  duty  of  man  to  man,  to 
set  before  it  the  real  truth  as  to  the  greatness  of 
Western  civilisation,  namely,  that  it  is  the  result  of 
Christianity. 

But  missions  are  not  anxious  merely  for  a  Uni- 


NEED  OF  UNIVERSITY  EXPLAINED  309 

versity  as  a  means  of  defence  against  the  materialistic 
onslaught  which  threatens  their  work — they  need  it 
for  many  other  reasons ;  for  instance,  the  University 
would  make  it  possible  for  all  denominations  to  have 
highly  educated  native  ministers.  No  student  of 
missions  can  ever  be  content  to  regard  them  as  an 
ideal  arrangement.  The  conception  of  a  race  being 
ministered  to  spiritually  by  another  race  is  obviously 
inadequate  ;  it  is  open  to  many  criticisms  ;  there  must 
be  a  confusion  in  the  mind  of  the  convert  between 
what  is  national  and  what  is  Christian ;  one  Chinese 
regarded  Christianity  with  doubt  because  he  had 
heard  that  the  German  Emperor  is  a  Christian, 
and  to  his  mind  he  is  the  embodiment  of  the  fierce 
piratical  Western  races.  The  word  which  the  Chinese 
use  for  robbers  means  red-bearded  men,  so  associated, 
alas,  is  the  Western  race  in  China  with  war  and 
rapine ;  it  is  easy  for  a  member  of  the  Western 
races  to  be  misunderstood  when  he  is  talking  about 
the  religion  of  love.  Would  any  English  parish  like 
as  its  Rector  a  Chinaman,  even  if  he  were  saintly 
and  went  so  far  as  to  cut  off  his  queue  ? 

Setting  aside  the  associations  of  the  Western  race, 
the  Western  race  has  great  diflSculty  in  speaking 
Chinese  without  making  ridiculous  mistakes.  Who 
among  us  has  not  smiled  when  the  Chinaman's 
inabihty  to  say  the  letter  "  r "  has  caused  him  to 
offer  us  "  lice "  to  eat,  but  what  must  it  be  to  the 
Chinaman  when  he  hears  the  Western  preacher  lost 
amidst  those  mysterious  Chinese   intonations,  and 


3IO  CHANGING  CHINA 


therefore  making  some  wonderful  statement.  A 
Chinese  gentleman  assured  me  that  he  had  listened 
to  a  missionary  extolling  the  virtues  of  a  wild  pig. 
Reverence  forbids  explaining  what  was  really  meant. 
If  the  ministers  of  religion  are  to  be  Chinese,  it  is 
obvious  that  they  must  be  highly  educated  Chinese ; 
to  have  religion  taught  by  ignorant  men  in  a  country 
like  China  where  learning  is  reverenced  so  profoundly, 
must  be  to  condemn  it  as  the  religion  of  the  coolie. 
The  Chinese  minister  must  be  able  to  maintain  his 
position,  not  only  against  the  Confucian  scholar,  but 
against  the  Western  materialist,  and  must  therefore 
have  an  equally  good  education.  Without  saying 
that  it  is  reasonable  to  expect  that  the  Western 
missionary  should  be  withdrawn  within  the  next 
few  years,  I  think  it  is  wisdom  for  every  mission 
body  to  aim  at  founding  a  body  of  educated  native 
clergy  who  can  free  Christianity  from  the  taunt  of 
being  a  foreign  religion,  and  who  can,  when  the 
foreigner  leaves  China,  take  his  place  and  uphold 
the  faith. 

If  to  have  an  educated  native  ministry  is  one 
great  object  of  the  University,  another  great  and 
only  less  important  object  is  the  creation  of  an 
intellectual  Christian  laity  who  shall  form  and 
direct  Christian  public  opinion.  The  school  teacher, 
the  writer,  are  only  one  degree  less  important,  if 
indeed  they  are  so,  than  the  Christian  minister ; 
and  if  as  China  assimilates  Western  civilisation, 
she  finds  in  her  midst  a  body  of  men  conversant 


NEED  OF  UNIVERSITY  EXPLAINED  311 

with  the  best  side  of  that  civilisation,  able  to  in- 
terpret its  mysteries  to  her,  so  that  it  does  not 
become  subversive  to  all  spiritual  religion  and 
morality,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  she  will 
take  those  men  and  put  them  in  high  positions, 
and  the  grain  of  mustard  seed  will  by  their  means 
grow  into  a  plant  which  shall  overshadow  the  whole 
of  China.  The  other  day  I  was  reading  how  St. 
Grimaldi  and  St.  Neots  founded  the  University  of 
Oxford  in  886.  Theology,  grammar  and  rhetoric, 
music  and  arithmetic,  geometry  and  astronomy, 
were  the  subjects  taught.  After  a  thousand  years 
we  are  in  a  position  to  judge  of  the  success  of  the 
experiment.  Surely  every  one  will  wish  to  have  a 
hand  in  founding  a  similar  undertaking. 

The  foundation  of  this  University  cannot  for  two 
or  three  reasons  be  left  to  one  body.  In  the  first 
place,  no  one  communion  will  be  rich  enough  to 
undertake  such  a  work ;  secondly,  it  might  cause 
a  certain  narrowness  of  atmosphere ;  thirdly  and 
chiefly,  co-operation  among  Christians  would  afford 
an  object-lesson  to  the  Chinese  of  the  real  unity 
there  is  between  them.  We  are  constantly  twitted 
with  the  fact  that  we  confuse  the  heathen  by  pro- 
fessing the  religion  of  love  and  then  setting  before 
them  a  mass  of  warring  sects.  If  we  can  unite  in 
the  founding  of  such  a  University,  we  shall  show 
that  though  we  see  the  Christian  truth  in  different 
aspects  we  have  agreed  that  truth  is  one,  and  have 
in  spite  of  our  divisions  a  fundamental  unity.  When 


312  CHANGING  CHINA 

this  matter  was  referred  to  at  the  Shanghai  Con- 
ference,  considerable  difficulty  was  felt  among 
missionaries  as  to  the  terms  on  which  such  a  Uni- 
versity should  be  founded.  It  was  agreed  to  refer 
it  to  the  Committee  on  Education,  and  that  Com- 
mittee of  Education  has  in  the  year  1909  welcomed 
the  formation  of  such  a  University.  Dr.  Hawks 
Pott,  who  of  all  men  in  China  can  best  speak  as 
an  authority  on  education,  since  he  has  organised 
and  maintained  that  wonderful  institution  at  Jess- 
field,  warmly  advocated  its  formation. 

No  doubt  one  of  the  reasons  why  the  missionaries 
now  see  their  way  to  the  acceptance  of  this  University 
is  because  a  neutral  body  has  come  forward  to  initiate 
the  undertaking.  Committees  of  the  Universities  of 
Oxford  and  Cambridge  have  been  sitting  for  many 
months  considering  the  question  with  all  the  skill 
and  ability  which  their  great  learning  and  technical 
knowledge  enable  them  to  bring  to  bear  on  this 
subject.  Though  of  course  they  have  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  education  in  all  its  aspects,  they  were 
aware  that  they  lacked  knowledge  of  China  and  the 
Chinese,  so  for  many  months  they  heard  and  examined 
the  evidence  of  any  one  who  was  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  China  and  with  the  conditions  of  missionary 
work.  They  devised  a  scheme  which  they  thought 
would  at  once  satisfy  the  workers  in  the  mission  field 
and  be  acceptable  to  the  Chinese.  The  mere  outline 
of  the  scheme  is  that  this  University  should  encourage 
the  formation  of  denominational  hostels,  which  shall 


NEED  OF  UNIVERSITY  EXPLAINED  313 

be  under  the  control  of  individual  missionary  bodies, 
and  which  shall  form  colleges  at  the  University ; 
and  while  the  University  alone  would  concern  itself 
with  giving  secular  teaching  from  a  neutral  stand- 
point, the  colleges  would  give  Christian  teaching  to 
their  pupils.  In  this  way  all  conflict  between  missions 
would  be  avoided ;  each  mission  would  continue  to 
care  for  the  pupils  which  it  had  hitherto  sheltered 
and  educated.  To  the  University  would  accrue  the 
great  gain  of  having  a  supply  of  properly  prepared 
pupils  coming  into  it  from  the  mission  schools,  one 
of  the  causes  of  disappointment  of  ill-considered  Uni- 
versity schemes  being  that  there  is  no  proper  provision 
for  a  supply  of  pupils.  In  the  West  there  are 
numerous  secondary  schools,  and  any  University  can 
easily  find  a  sufficient  number  of  pupils  properly 
grounded  in  knowledge.  In  the  East  to  erect  a 
University  without  feeding  schools  is  like  building 
a  house  in  the  Chinese  fashion  roof  first.  The  Yale 
University  Mission  found  itself  compelled  to  set  up 
elementary  schools  to  teach  the  elementary  Western 
knowledge  which  was  necessary  before  even  the  lowest 
grade  of  college  work  could  be  attempted.  Western 
teachers  are,  as  we  have  before  explained,  few  and 
far  between  outside  the  mission  schools,  and  therefore 
mission  schools  would  both  help  and  be  helped  by 
a  University.  The  University  completes  the  work 
they  have  begun,  and  returns  the  men  to  the  mission 
to  carry  on  its  work  with  honour  and  efficiency. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  mission  supplies  the  Uni- 


314  CHANGING  CHINA 

versity  with  pupils,  which  after  all  are  the  prime 
necessity  of  education. 

Another  great  feature  of  the  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge scheme  was  that  the  University  should  aim 
to  be  a  native  University,  and  this  no  doubt  was  the 
side  which  attracted  the  Chinese.  Instead  of  using 
knowledge,  the  common  heritage  of  all  men,  as  the 
means  of  imposing  the  domination  of  the  alien  on 
China,  knowledge  is  offered  by  this  University  as 
essentially  the  thing  which  belongs  to  China  as  well 
as  to  any  other  race.  If  in  the  commencement  the 
majority  of  the  professors  must  belong  to  the  Western 
race,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  many  of  its  professors 
will  soon  come  from  China,  and  that  when  the  Uni- 
versity is  well  begun,  and  Christianity  has  become 
as  national  a  religion  as  it  is  in  our  land,  and 
Western  civilisation  has  lost  the  right  to  describe 
itself  by  that  epithet,  and  has  become  the  civiUsation 
of  the  East  as  of  the  West,  then  the  University 
whose  foundation  is  now  being  laid  may  be  the  great 
light  of  the  future  China. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  part  of  the  scheme 
is  that  which  suggests  denominational  hostels  as  the 
proper  solution  of  the  difficulties  that  beset  union  and 
interdenominational  work  in  the  mission  field. 

There  are  obvious  difficulties  in  arranging  for  a 
common  religious  teaching,  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  is  very  advantageous  for  the  many  mission  bodies 
at  work  in  China  to  show  a  united  front  against 
the  new  materialism  and  the  ancient  superstition. 


NEED  OF  UNIVERSITY  EXPLAINED  315 

Nothing  so  shows  the  power  of  Christian  love  as  a 
union  work  of  this  nature. 

We  Christians  are  often  taunted  with  our  differ- 
ences, and  we  are  assured  that  many  will  support  any 
scheme  that  makes  for  union  and  peace  [between  the 
different  elements  of  the  Christian  world.  Here  is  a 
scheme  which  will  tend  to  bring  Christians  together, 
and  to  induce  that  mutual  respect  and  toleration 
which  must  be  the  foundation  of  a  closer  union.  The 
baby  must  walk  before  he  runs,  and  if  the  Christians 
of  China  can  maintain  such  a  University,  their  daily 
intercourse  will  greatly  assist  any  further  scheme  for 
unity. 

But  there  is  another  use  in  the  hostel  system 
which  should  not  be  overlooked.  At  all  times  one  of 
the  great  hindrances  to  the  education  of  young  men 
is  the  tendency  that  they  have  to  waste  their  strength 
in  riot  and  wantonness.  The  Chinaman  is  perhaps 
more  subject  to  these  temptations  than  the  Westerner. 
A  student  said  :  "  We  cannot  work ;  we  are  too  pro- 
fligate." A  Chinese  statesman  advised  against  certain 
towns  as  possible  sites  for  a  University  because  of 
their  tendency  to  entice  men  into  vicious  courses. 
Far  the  most  efficient  way  of  opposing  this  evil  is 
to  make  some  one  responsible  for  the  moral  welfare  of 
the  young  men,  and  this  is  done  in  the  hostel  system. 

Every  hostel  would  be  governed  by  some  person 
who  would  make  the  moral  welfare  of  the  young  men 
his  peculiar  care  and  study.  The  head  of  the  hostel 
might  or  might  not  be  on  the  teaching  staff  of  the 


3i6  CHANGING  CHINA 

University ;  but  whether  he  taught  or  not,  his  first 
duty  would  be  the  care  of  the  moral  and  spiritual 
welfare  of  those  committed  to  his  charge.  He  would 
give  all  his  energy  to  reproduce  the  highest  moral 
tone  of  a  Western  University. 

This  scheme  is  being  tried  in  Chentu,  where  a 
union  University  is  being  started.  And  I  believe  it 
is  in  every  way  proving  successful.  Those  who  have 
not  realised  the  size  of  China  will  be  perhaps  inclined 
to  ask  why  not  unite  the  two  schemes  ?  The  simple 
answer  to  those  who  have  travelled  is  that  the  dis- 
tances are  too  vast.  You  might  as  well  talk  of  uniting 
Oxford  and  Harvard,  for  those  two  Universities  are 
about  as  far  from  one  another  in  time  as  Hankow 
is  from  Chentu.  Even  when  the  railway  is  built  the 
distances  will  be  immense.  The  enormous  distances 
of  China  are  also  a  reason  why  it  was  impossible  to 
amalgamate  the  Hong-Kong  scheme  and  the  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  scheme.  Hong-Kong  is  now  ten  days 
to  a  fortnight  away  from  Hankow,  and  such  a  different 
language  is  spoken  there  that  the  dwellers  in  Northern 
and  Central  China  are  often  forced  to  use  English  to 
understand  one  another. 

The  University  of  Hong-Kong  will  be  very  bene- 
ficial to  the  colony,  and  is  an  example  of  the  generosity 
of  the  merchants  and  citizens  of  that  town ;  but  as 
a  means  of  naturalising  the  higher  side  of  our  civilisa- 
tion it  labours  under  the  great  disadvantage  of  not 
being  either  in  China  nor  under  the  Chinese  flag,  nor 
of  speaking  the  prevailing  language. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

THE  NEED  OF  A  UNIVERSITY  EXPLAINED  (continued) 

The  Committees  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge  had  not 
been  without  hope  that  the  missionary  world  would 
accept  the  scheme  readily  once  it  was  well  under- 
stood. 

They  had  had  the  advantage  of  many  interviews 
with  missionaries  and  others  in  London  at  their  joint 
meetings  so  as  to  make  it  a  matter  of  some  certainty 
that  a  large  portion  of  the  Western  educators  of  China 
would  agree  with  them.  But  they  were  rather 
doubtful  whether  the  scheme  would  be  welcomed 
by  the  Chinese  official  world. 

The  commercial  world  in  London  that  had  dealings 
with  China  was  rather  pessimistic.  They  held  the 
view  that  you  only  had  to  mention  the  word  Chris- 
tian or  missionary  to  a  Chinese  official  and  it  would 
have  the  same  effect  that  the  word  rats  has  on  a 
terrier.  But  as  I  have  before  related,  we  were  agree- 
ably surprised  to  find  at  the  very  outset  that  the 
Chinese  official  world  were  far  from  hostile,  and  that 
we  were  given,  unasked,  letters  of  introduction,  whose 
contents  I  did  not  know  except  that  they  procured 
for  us  a  welcome  in  China  which  was  as  surprising  as 

it  was  delightful.    I  learnt  in  China  that  knowledge 

317 


3i8  CHANGING  CHINA 

and  learning  is  so  loved  and  respected  that  those 
whose  object  is  its  dissemination  will  ever  find  a 
ready  welcome,  and  I  learnt  also  that  whatever  may- 
have  been  their  sentiments  in  the  past,  in  the  present 
the  Chinese  have  no  hatred  towards  Christianity,  but 
they  regard  it  as  one  of  the  least  odious  parts  of  the 
Western  civilisation  which  has  become  for  them  a 
necessity.  I  had  also  the  privilege  of  seeing  His 
Excellency  Tong-Shao-Yi  in  London,  and  he  did  not 
discourage  the  plan. 

When  we  arrived  at  Harbin  we  found  an  official 
ready  to  receive  us  who  had  been  sent  to  welcome  the 
scheme  to  China.  His  instructions  were  to  accompany 
us  to  Kwangchangtzu  and  to  watch  over  our  comfort. 
As  he  only  spoke  Chinese,  conversation  was  difficult ; 
but  with  the  aid  of  a  member  of  the  Imperial  Customs 
we  gathered  the  object  of  his  mission.  At  Mukden 
we  met  with  a  similar  civility.  I  was  invited  to  dine 
at  the  Yamen.  I  shall  always  remember  my  drive  to 
that  dinner.  At  Mukden  no  carrying  chairs  are  used, 
but  a  springless  cart,  in  which  the  traveller,  or  more 
accurately  the  sufferer,  reclines.  I  was  late  for  dinner, 
so  the  order  was  given  to  the  charioteer  to  drive  quick, 
and  as  we  bounded  over  the  unpaved  streets  of  a 
Manchurian  town  I  had  an  opportunity  of  realising 
one  of  the  minor  discomforts  of  Chinese  missionary 
life.  At  the  Yamen  the  same  civility  was  shown  to 
the  scheme,  and  next  day  Dr.  Ross,  my  kindly  host, 
took  me  to  see  a  Manchu  noble  of  high  rank.  He  was 
more  than  encouraging.    He  first  sounded  the  note 


NEED  OF  UNIVERSITY  EXPLAINED  319 

that  I  found  vibrating  through  the  whole  of  China. 
He  asked  why  did  not  the  West  concern  itself  with 
Buch  things  as  education,  which  benefit  man,  rather 
than  with  war,  which  produces  such  endless  suffering 
and  misery. 

At  Peking  I  met  some  great  officials  who  all  were 
favourable,  but  it  was  not  till  we  got  south  that  we 
encountered  what  can  only  be  described  as  enthusiasm 
for  Western  education.  One  gentleman  advised  that 
such  an  institution  should  be  started  at  once,  and 
recommended  the  recall  of  all  students  studying  in 
Western  lands  to  fill  its  ranks.  Another  who  was 
interpreting  was  not  satisfied  with  the  prudent  official 
reply  I  received  that  the  plan  was  good,  but  that  I 
must  make  inquiries  at  Peking.  He  added  :  ''Make 
inquiries  at  Peking;  but  if  they  refuse,  go  on  with 
your  scheme  all  the  same."  A  body  of  young  men 
who  had  been  educated  at  Boone  College  sent  a  peti- 
tion that  the  scheme  should  be  forthwith  undertaken, 
but  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  experience  was  that 
which  I  had  at  Shanghai.  I  was  entertained  by 
thirteen  of  the  gentry  who  had  all  received  their 
education  in  the  West.  We  discussed  every  aspect 
of  the  plan,  and  when  I  pressed  upon  them  that  one 
of  the  good  results  of  the  University  would  be  that  it 
would  have  a  healthy  moral  environment,  an  old  man 
turned  to  his  companions  and  said  :  "  We  have  ourselves 
had  experience  of  this.  The  environment  in  which  we 
lived  when  we  were  in  the  West  was  different  from 
that  in  which  we  found  ourselves  when  we  returned 


320  CHANGING  CHINA 


to  Shanghai,  and  did  not  it  largely  affect  our  lives  ?  " 
After  we  had  talked  some  time  the  question  was  put 
plainly  to  them :  Would  they  support  such  a  Uni- 
versity ? "  One  of  them  turned  round  and  said  :  "  Of 
course  we  should.  It  is  obvious  that  if  you  will  give 
us  in  China  the  same  sort  of  University  as  there  is  in 
England,  if  only  on  the  score  of  expense,  we  shall 
want  to  send  our  sons  there ;  besides  which  no  one 
likes  parting  from  their  children  and  leaving  them  in 
a  distant  land." 

I  discussed  the  matter  with  a  Chinese  statesman  in 
Peking.  I  asked  whether  Peking  would  not  be  a  good 
centre,  but  he  was  very  adverse  to  the  idea,  because  he 
said  that  Peking  had  such  a  bad  moral  tone  that  boys 
would  not  be  able  to  do  any  good  work,  and  that  he 
himself  far  preferred  that  Chinese  boys  should  be  sent 
at  ten  years  old  to  England  to  receive  their  whole 
education  in  our  country.  When  we  pointed  out  to 
him  how,  except  in  the  case  of  a  few  rich  men,  such 
a  course  would  be  quite  impossible,  he  said :  "  Then 
put  your  University  right  away  in  the  western  hills 
out  of  reach  of  the  immoral  influences  of  a  town." 
There  can  be  few  more  eloquent  testimonies  to  the 
necessity  of  another  University ;  nothing  but  a 
Christian  University  could  succeed  in  creating  the 
moral  atmosphere,  which  this  wise  man  saw  was  the 
power  of  the  West.  In  the  same  conversation  he 
gave  a  further  testimony  to  the  power  of  Chris- 
tianity, all  the  more  striking  that  it  was  uttered  by 
a  man  who  was  not  a  Christian.    He  said:  **Yes, 


NEED  OF  UNIVERSITY  EXPLAINED  321 

I  have  no  doubt  that  all  that  is  good  in  the  West 
comes  from  Christianity." 

All  the  officials  we  interviewed  always  ended 
their  encomiums  on  the  suggested  scheme  by  a  saving 
clause  to  the  effect  that,  before  we  did  anything,  we 
must  ask  his  Excellency  Chang-Chih-Tung.  When 
we  passed  through  Peking  the  first  time  we  failed  to 
see  him,  and  it  was  therefore  with  some  anxiety  I 
sought  an  interview  with  him  on  our  return  journey. 

Chang  was  a  figure  in  the  politics  of  China  whose 
importance  it  would  be  hard  to  over-estimate.  Not 
that  he  had  the  reputation  for  being  a  peculiarly  able 
man  ;  in  fact,  some  of  the  Europeans  spoke  slightingly 
of  his  mentality.  His  force  and  influence  came  rather 
from  his  moral  qualities.  He  was  the  perfect  type  of 
Confucian  scholar. 

Wonderfully  well  versed  in  all  the  knowledge  of 
the  literati  of  China,  he  was  far  from  despising  any 
form  of  knowledge  ;  in  fact,  he  was  one  of  the  first  of 
the  statesmen  of  China  to  recognise  the  importance 
of  Western  education.  When  we  were  discussing 
with  some  leading  merchants  the  want  of  integrity  of 
many  of  the  officials,  they  claimed  Chang  as  an  ex- 
ception with  enthusiasm.  He  had  held  the  highest 
offices  and  still  remained  comparatively  poor.  His 
reputation  for  clean-handedness  was  enhanced  by  his 
age.  In  China  the  old  are  greatly  reverenced,  and 
an  old,  honest,  and  learned  statesman  combined  three 
of  the  qualities  most  admired  in  China. 

It  was  therefore  with  some  trepidation  that  I 


322  CHANGING  CHINA 

found  myself  going  to  see  a  man  whose  moral  autho- 
rity was  so  great  that  he  could  with  a  word  mar  or 
make  the  University  scheme  as  far  as  the  power  of 
the  Chinese  officials  extended,  and  in  his  case  this 
was  very  far.  I  was  alone,  for  owing  to  the  rather 
heated  debates  that  divided  the  British  and  Chinese 
Governments  over  the  Canton- Wuchang  Railway,  it 
was  thought  advisable  that  no  member  of  the  Lega- 
tion should  come  with  me.  I  drove  down  to  the 
north  end  of  the  city,  and  turning  down  a  by-lane, 
scarcely  wide  enough  for  the  carriage  to  pass,  we  drew 
up  opposite  a  very  modest  dwelling.  I  was  received 
by  His  Excellency's  nephew,  a  man  of  extremely  courtly 
manners ;  and  as  he  conducted  me  across  the  yard  I 
was  struck  by  the  simplicity  of  the  house.  The 
room,  for  instance,  into  which  I  was  ushered  had  a 
brick  floor,  and  was  separated  from  the  courtyard 
only  by  a  paper  and  wood  screen.  Imagine  what  the 
intense  cold  must  be  in  a  Peking  winter  when  the 
thermometer  is  somewhere  below  zero !  The  furni- 
ture of  the  room  was  equally  simple.  Two  Chinese 
chairs  of  the  Chinese  guest-room  pattern,  standing 
on  each  side  of  the  usual  Chinese  table,  were  sup- 
ported on  the  other  side  of  the  room  by  a  token  of 
the  ever-encroaching  West  in  the  shape  of  a  common 
round  table  and  some  mongrel-looking  stools,  which 
looked  as  if  they  were  productions  of  Japan  palmed 
off  as  European. 

As  we  sat  and  talked  (for  I  was  too  early  for  my 
interview)  my  host  told  me  all  about  his  uncle's 


NEED  OF  UNIVERSITY  EXPLAINED  323 

family,  and  the  while  I  wondered  at  the  austerity  of 
the  dwelling  of  the  greatest  man  in  China  after  those 
of  royal  blood. 

His  Excellency  was  then  ready  to  receive  me,  and 
we  adjourned  to  another  equally  simple  room  where 
the  usual  table  with  tea,  sweetmeats,  and  wine  was 
laid  out.  Chang  during  the  whole  interview  smoked 
a  long  pipe,  which  required  all  the  efforts  of  what  I 
took  to  be  two  boys,  but  who  really  were  slave-girls, 
to  keep  alight.  He  wanted  to  know  where  the  money 
was  to  come  from.  I  assured  him  that  there  are 
many  generous  people  in  England  and  America  who, 
desiring  to  leave  a  good  name  behind  them,  and  con- 
vinced that  education  confers  on  humanity  incal- 
culable benefits,  are  willing  to  give  largely  to  such  a 
cause. 

Then  he  inquired  what  line  we  should  take  with 
regard  to  Confucian  learning ;  I  said  Christianity  and 
Confucianism  need  not  be  opposed,  and  we  should 
respect  and  encourage  the  teaching  of  the  sage.  He 
clearly  approved,  and  gave  me  advice  as  to  the  course 
of  study  to  be  followed — first,  Chinese  letters,  then 
foreign  languages ;  and  he  advised  as  the  site  for 
the  University  some  place  near  Wuchang  and  not 
Peking. 

He  then  assured  me  that  I  might  tell  my  country- 
men that  he  approved  of  the  scheme.  "  Who,"  said 
he,  "  could  but  approve  of  such  a  scheme  ? " 

As  I  left  he  accompanied  me  across  the  courtyard, 
though  I  protested,  and  I  felt  I  had  been  honoured 


324  CHANGING  CHINA 

by  this  interview  with  one  of  China's  greatest  men. 
He  was  the  embodiment  of  all  that  was  fine  in  China. 
He  belonged  to  an  age  that  is  passing  away.  The 
Chinese  statesman  of  the  future  will  learn  Western 
luxury  with  Western  knowledge. 


CHAPTER  XXVll 


CONCLUSION 

One  word  in  conclusion.  I  have  tried  to  show  the 
greatness  of  the  crisis  that  is  before  us.  The  civilisa- 
tion which  has  long  been  worn  by  the  white  man 
alone  is  now  being  donned  by  the  yellow  man,  not 
as  the  result  only  of  missionary  effort,  but  as  the 
result  of  those  great  world  causes  over  which  puny 
mankind  has  no  control ;  and  I  have  tried  to  show 
that  all  that  we  can  do  is  to  recognise  and  frankly 
accept  this  great  fact,  namely,  that  the  members  of 
the  human  race  who  are  subject  to  and  governed  by 
our  civilisation  are  to  be  nearly  doubled,  and  that  the 
second  half  will  import  into  that  civilisation  not  only 
new  traditions,  but  a  new  racial  personality,  which 
must  cause  a  fundamental  alteration  in  many  of  its 
traditions  and  customs.  We  must  not  say  that  the 
movement  will  be  shortly  completed,  for  it  has  scarcely 
yet  begun ;  but  we  have  seen  enough  in  the  success 
that  has  attended  the  movement  both  in  Japan  and 
in  China,  to  convince  us  that  it  will  ultimately  domi- 
nate the  Far  East.  This  movement  may  be  for  good 
or  for  evil ;  it  may  be  for  the  downfall  of  the  world, 
for  the  perpetual  misery  of  mankind,  if  that  which 
is  evil  in  both  civilisations  is  to  be  perpetuated  and 

32S 


326  CHANGING  CHINA 

that  which  is  good  is  to  be  destroyed  ;  or  it  may 
be  for  the  benefit  of  mankind  if,  when  the  Christian 
civiHsation  welcomes  the  great  yellow  races,  it  accepts 
from  them,  as  it  has  accepted  from  many  other  races, 
their  characteristic  virtues.  Hitherto  our  civilisa- 
tion has  grown  richer ;  every  race  it  has  conquered 
has  added  beauty  to  its  traditions  and  nobility  to 
its  ideals.  We  may  look  forward  with  hope,  if  not 
with  confidence,  to  its  future.  But  if  this  momentous 
change  in  the  history  of  the  world  is  to  be  well 
directed,  it  can  only  be  done  by  men  of  sincere  Chris- 
tian faith  ;  and  if  the  civilisation  is  to  augment  these 
benefits  to  mankind,  it  can  only  be  by  being  more  fully 
endued  with  the  Christian  ethics  on  which  its  whole 
greatness  depends. 

For  the  perpetuation  of  this  ethic,  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  future  thinkers  of  China,  we  suggest  a 
University  is  needed ;  that  University  should  not  be 
founded  by  one  race  alone.  Some  may  difier  from 
us,  and  hold  that  other  action  is  advisable.  They 
may  be  right,  but  it  behoves  them  to  formulate  their 
policy,  because  one  thing  seems  certain — that  a  policy 
of  inaction  at  the  present  moment  is  one  which  is 
fraught  with  risk,  if  not  with  disaster.  If  no  one 
makes  any  effort  to  direct  the  thought  of  this  vast 
unit  of  mankind  into  the  right  paths,  it  is  impro- 
bable that  good  will  naturally  result.  The  fitting  of 
Western  thought  to  an  Oriental  race,  while  it  must 
be  chiefly  left  to  the  race  itself,  needs  clearly  the 
help  of  those  who  are  conversant  with  the  best  aspects 


CONCLUSION  327 

of  that  Western  thought  and  of  its  history.  The 
missionary  has  done  much,  but  he  himself  is  the  first 
to  say,  "  I  cannot  do  all  ;  I  must  be  supported  by 
those  who  will  teach  my  converts  the  fulness  of 
Western  knowledge."  And  so  the  missionaries  have 
inaugurated  a  policy  of  education  which  is  most 
successful  as  far  as  it  has  gone.  The  question  before 
all  well-wishers  of  China  is,  shall  it  go  further ;  shall 
we  show  China  the  intellectual  light  by  which  we 
are  walking,  or  shall  we  leave  China  to  stumble  in 
the  darkness  till  she  falls  into  deeper  error. 

Those  who  look  forward  to  progress  in  this  world 
must  also  look  forward  to  breaking  up  the  old  evil 
traditions  and  to  founding  new  ones ;  the  old  tradi- 
tion, which  limited  love  to  citizens  of  the  same  State, 
which  put  bounds  on  charity,  so  that  man  did  not 
love  man  unless  he  spoke  the  same  language,  or  at 
least  had  the  same  coloured  skin,  is  dying  fast  though 
it  is  dying  hard.  A  new  tradition  is  being  founded, 
and  must  be  further  developed,  in  which,  as  in  the 
parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan,  the  word  love  is 
taught  as  passing  and  transcending  all  bounds  of  race 
and  language.  The  cultivation  of  this  new  tradi- 
tion is  vital  to  the  existence  of  our  civilisation.  If 
love  cannot  bind  races  together,  the  improved  arts 
of  war  will  in  time  extinguish  the  civilisation  that 
gave  them  birth.  If  we  are  to  encourage  international 
love,  we  can  best  do  it  by  sharing  together  in  inter- 
national acts  of  mercy  and  generosity.  The  great 
Chinese  race  has  need  of  the  wealth  of  Western 


328  CHANGING  CHINA 

knowledge.  Let  Western  races  join  together  to  give 
them  what  they  need,  and  in  so  doing  they  will  not 
merely  benefit  China,  though  as  China  counts  for 
a  quarter  of  the  population  of  this  world,  and  is 
nearly  equal  to  the  number  of  men  who  have  a  right 
to  call  themselves  civilised,  that  were  no  small  merit ; 
but  they  will  do  more,  for  they  will  by  common  acts 
of  mercy  and  love  bind  each  to  each  so  that  the 
horrid  curse  of  racial  hatred  shall  not  be  again  able 
to  divide  them.  The  elements  of  good  in  one  race 
will  be  brought  in  contact  with  the  similar  elements 
in  another  race ;  men  will  learn  to  trust  men ;  and 
that  which  the  thundering  cannon  can  never  compel, 
or  the  keenest  wit  of  statesmen  ever  compass,  will 
be  accomplished  by  the  obedience  and  simple  faith 
of  the  Christian  men  and  women  of  all  races,  and 
the  world  will  be  welded  into  one  solid  piece,  w^here 
men  can  work  without  wasting  their  efforts  in  making 
machines  to  torture  and  kill  their  fellow-men,  and 
where  at  last  the  prophecy  shall  be  fulfilled  :  "  They 
shall  beat  their  swords  into  plowshares,  and  their 
spears  into  pruning-hooks." 


APPENDIX 

WILL  RUSSIA  BE  REPRESENTED  ON  THE  MISSION  FIELD? 

When  it  was  settled  that  we  should  go  to  China  to  see 
what  opportunities  there  were  there  for  an  educational 
mission  emanating  from  our  English  Universities,  we  de- 
cided to  go  vid  Siberia,  and  stop  at  St.  Petersburg  and  also 
at  Irkutsk  on  the  way.  I  had  previously  found  the  journey 
of  fifteen  days  without  a  break  exhausting  to  myself  and  still 
more  so  to  my  wife  who  accompanied  me.  The  plan  had 
also  the  advantage  that  it  gave  me  an  opportunity  of  trying 
to  find  out  why  the  great  Russian  Church  had  never  attempted 
any  serious  mission  work  in  China.  From  a  mere  inspec- 
tion of  the  map  one  would  naturally  have  expected  that 
the  Christian  power  which  had  a  frontier  with  China  of 
thousands  and  thousands  of  miles  would  have  been  the 
most  forward  in  that  country  in  fulfilling  the  command  of 
the  founder  of  Christianity  to  give  His  message  of  happi- 
ness to  every  living  man.  In  our  previous  tour  we  had 
been  surprised  to  find  that  the  missionary  efforts  of  Russia 
were  insignificant  in  China,  though,  strange  to  say,  they 
were  fairly  vigorous  in  Japan.  When  we  arrived  at  St. 
Petersburg  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  obtain  letters  of 
introduction  to  the  courteous  gentleman  who  then  repre- 
sented the  imperial  power  in  the  councils  of  the  Russian 
Church,  M.  Iwolsky,  Procurator  of  the  Holy  Synod.  One 
thing  became  evident;  for  the  time  being  Russia  is  so 
much  absorbed  in  politics  as  to  be  oblivious  of  other  duties. 
Living  in  England,  we  can  little  realise  the  excitement  and 
anxiety  that  filled  the  minds  of  many  who  dwelt  in  the  far 
off  villages  of  Russia,  while  they  waited  to  hear  whether  or 
not  they  were  to  be  engulfed  in  a  revolution  as  dangerous 

399 


330 


APPENDIX 


and  as  far-reaching  as  that  which  more  than  a  hundred 
years  ago  overwhelmed  France. 

A  lady  described  to  me  how  she  had  sat  in  terror  in 
her  country  house  when  all  communication  from  St.  Peters- 
burg had  ceased  owing  to  the  strikes,  while  the  smoke  of 
surrounding  houses  which  had  been  set  on  fire  by  maraud- 
ing bands  told  of  the  fate  which  might  possibly  await  her. 
Now  all  that  is  over.  The  revolution — so  they  think  in 
Russia — is  a  thing  of  the  past;  and  Russia  has  entered  on 
a  course  of  conservative  reform  to  which,  if  she  adheres, 
will  doubtless  make  her  a  prosperous  and  contented 
empire. 

I  gathered  from  some  of  my  informants  that  the  reasons 
why  Russia  had  been  backward  in  the  mission  field,  and 
also  why  she  was  racked  with  revolution,  were  in  reality 
the  same,  namely,  that  the  Orthodox  Church  was  not  so 
vigorous  and  had  not  that  hold  on  the  consciences  of  the 
people  that  it  ought  to  have.  Not  that  for  one  moment 
Russia  is  ceasing  to  be  religious.  The  attendance  at  Father 
John's  funeral  was  quoted  as  disproving  such  a  possibility. 
People  of  the  working  and  middle  classes  came  for  miles 
to  stand  on  a  bleak  cold  day  for  long  hours  merely  to  catch 
a  glimpse  of  the  coffin  which  contained  the  mortal  remains 
of  a  man  who,  according  to  their  belief,  lived  more  than 
any  man  in  accordance  with  God's  law.  Russia  is  religious 
to  the  very  core ;  but,  like  all  religious  nations,  our  own 
included,  she  longs  to  express  her  deep  sincerity  through 
diversity  and  not  through  uniformity.  Alas !  there  are 
people  in  every  nation  who  want  to  put  us  in  one  religious 
uniform  and  to  march  us  like  soldiers  at  the  word  of  com- 
mand straight  into  heaven's  gate.  In  England  this  view  only 
makes  some  good  and  narrow-minded  people  anxious  to 
have  such  a  thing  as  religious  uniformity  in  our  schools ; 
but  in  Russia  this  doctrine  has  been  more  vigorously  held, 
and  is  doubtless  responsible  for  the  waning  power  of  the 
Orthodox  Church.  Mr.  Pobiedonosteff,  leader  of  the  reac- 
tionary movement,  nearly  caused  a  revolution,  and  certainly 


APPENDIX 


331 


weakened  the  Church,  by  insisting  on  Uniformity  and 
Orthodoxy.  He  believed  that  there  could  be  but  one  form 
of  religion  in  the  State,  and  therefore  he  discouraged  every 
other  form  of  religious  activity.  Not  only  did  he  rightly 
forbid  those  strange  wild  immoral  sects  who  practise  and 
teach  mutilation,  but  even  the  sober  and  devout  followers 
of  Lord  Radstock  were  to  be  silenced.  The  result  of  such 
a  policy  was  but  too  obvious.  Religion  was  made  odious 
by  the  insincerity  w^hich  such  a  policy  must  foster,  and  the 
State  became  detestable  to  all  earnest  Christians  who  claimed 
the  inherent  right  of  every  living  soul  to  love  and  worship 
his  Creator  in  accordance  with  his  true  convictions. 

All  this  has  now  passed  like  a  bad  dream.  People  in 
Russia  may  believe  what  they  like  and  worship  God  how 
they  like.  M.  Iwolsky  was  most  anxious  that  the  world 
should  know  that  he,  the  then  representative  of  temporal 
power  in  the  councils  of  the  Russian  Church,  so  far  fi'om 
encouraging  the  idea  that  Christ's  Church  can  be  con- 
trolled by  a  temporal  power,  however  great,  was  most 
careful  to  maintain  that  in  spiritual  matters  the  Church  is 
independent  of  the  State,  even  if  in  temporal  matters  she 
submit  herself  to  the  authority  of  Government.  Peter  the 
Great  abolished  the  Patriarchate;  he  added  many,  though 
not  all,  of  the  powers  of  the  Patriarchate  to  the  Crown ;  and 
therefore  the  Emperor  represents  the  Patriarch  in  many 
ways.  But  it  is  wholly  misunderstanding  his  position  to 
say  that  in  spiritual  matters  he  is  supreme.  The  Russian 
Church,  like  all  other  branches  of  the  Church,  is  controlled 
and  governed  by  councils,  both  general  and  provincial. 

But  M.  Iwolsky  had  to  confess  that  the  power  which 
the  State  wielded  in  the  Synod  of  the  Church  was  still 
very  great.  The  Crown  has  three  ways  in  which  it  can 
influence  the  council.  First,  though  the  members  of  the 
council  are  representatives  of  the  Church,  it  is  the  Crown 
who  decides  (with  the  exception  of  the  Metropolitans) 
who  those  representatives  shall  be;  secondly,  the  Crown, 
through  the    Procurator,  can    forbid    any  action  which 


332 


APPENDIX 


brings  the  Synod  into  conflict  with  the  laws  of  the  State; 
lastly,  the  Procurator,  as  representative  of  the  Crown, 
must  always  be  present  at  the  debates  of  the  Synod,  and 
has  always  a  right  to  express  his  opinion,  even  on  spiritual 
questions.  Such  powers  put  together  clearly  give  the 
Crown  a  control  not  only  in  things  temporal,  but,  if  it  is 
desired,  an  influence  in  things  spiritual  as  well.  Still  it 
cannot  be  too  widely  known  that  at  any  rate  in  theory 
the  Russian  Church  is  in  things  spiritual  independent  of 
temporal  power.  Most  Englishmen  would  think,  no  doubt, 
that  if  the  Church  is  to  hold  her  rightful  place  in  the 
hearts  of  Russians,  she  can  only  do  it  by  relying  on  the 
power  of  preaching  rather  than  on  the  power  of  the  sword. 
Therefore  it  would  be  best  for  both  Church  and  State  if 
they  had  less  to  do  with  one  another.  English  Churchmen 
will  be  glad  to  hear  that  there  is  some  prospect  of  a  Synod 
of  the  Orthodox  Church  being  held,  independently  of  the 
existing  Holy  Synod — a  council  which  may  rank  as  a  General 
Synod  of  the  Greek  Communion,  if  other  branches  of  the 
Orthodox  Church  are  invited  to  join  in  its  deliberations,  of 
which  there  is  some  prospect.  The  object  of  this  Synod 
will  be  to  reform  the  discipline  of  the  Church,  a  matter 
which  is  engaging,  I  understand,  the  sincere  attention  of 
the  devout  Christians  of  Russia.  Few  things  bear  truer 
witness  to  the  weakness  of  the  Church  in  Russia  than  the 
low  moral  tone  which  exists,  as  all  witnesses  aver,  in  every 
grade  of  Russian  social  life.  The  outward  observance  of 
the  fasts  and  feasts  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church,  though 
admirable  in  itself,  is  perfectly  consistent  with  a  great  deal 
of  scepticism  with  regard  to  the  truths  of  Christianity.  It 
is  not  uncharitable  to  suspect  such  scepticism  when  a  great 
profession  of  Christianity  is  accompanied  by  a  low  moral 
tone.  The  Church  has  felt  her  weakness  and  has  sought 
the  help  of  the  State,  and  has  therefore  not  succeeded  in 
her  mission. 

Now  happier  days  have  opened  for  Russia  which  it  is 
hoped  may  lead  on  to  happier  ones  beyond.    The  State  no 


APPENDIX 


333 


longer  helps  the  Church  by  silencing  her  critics,  by  exiling 
those  who  cannot  agree  with  her :  the  Buddhist  who  lately 
at  the  definite  command  of  the  Government  had  accepted 
Christianity  has  returned  to  sincerity  and  open  profession 
of  Buddhism.  The  Church  no  longer  so  supported  by  the 
State  may  feel  her  weakness,  but  she  will  grow  rather  than 
diminish  in  strength  as  she  learns  to  use  more  and  more 
the  real  weapon  of  Christianity,  namely,  the  sacred  truths 
of  our  religion  published  both  by  writing  and  by  preaching. 
Russia  is  one  of  the  great  nations  of  the  world.  The 
Orthodox  Church  which  dominates  Russia  is  both  true  and 
faithful,  and  she  will  guide  her  people  into  prosperity  and 
peace  when  she  has  learned  to  follow  her  Master's  example 
and  to  order  the  sword  drawn  in  her  defence  to  be  returned 
altogether  to  its  sheath. 

Nothing  can  be  at  present  expected  from  the  unorthodox 
bodies  who  until  lately  have  been  persecuted  to  such  a 
degree  that  they  have  scarcely  been  able  to  exist.  In 
external  matters  the  Orthodox  Church  commands  the 
obedience  of  the  nation  to  a  wonderful  degree,  but  in 
controlling  the  deep  convictions  of  the  heart  she  lacks 
power.  Nowhere  is  this  more  obvious  than  in  the  moral 
tone  which  prevails  in  Russian  society.  Perhaps  it  is  not 
just  or  fair  to  take  the  capital  of  Siberia  as  a  specimen  of 
ordinary  moral  life  in  Russia,  but  one  might  well  say  at 
Irkutsk  that  all  save  the  spirit  of  man  is  divine.  We  had 
been  to  a  certain  extent  prepared  by  our  previous  tour  to 
disbelieve  in  the  horrors  of  the  climate  of  Siberia,  but  what 
we  saw  and  heard  at  Irkutsk  has  convinced  me  that  Siberia 
should  rank  high  among  the  places  that  are  reckoned 
pleasant  for  human  habitation.  Siberia,  or  certainly  the 
eastern  part  of  Siberia,  is  not  the  dreary  plain,  wind-swept 
and  miserable,  that  one  read  of  in  one's  childhood.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  a  land  of  constant  calms  and  steady  sunshine, 
a  land  of  lakes  and  hills,  and  though  it  is  cold,  the  cold 
seems  but  trifling  in  the  glorious  sunshine  of  a  Siberian 
winter.    I  feel  certain  that  if  Lake  Baikal  were  some- 


334 


APPENDIX 


where  within  reach  of  London  it  would  be  one  of  the  most 
frequented  centres  for  pleasure-seekers.  And  from  the 
point  of  view  of  wealth  it  is  a  most  favoured  land ;  a  land 
where  there  is  gold  and  where  there  is  coal ;  a  land  where 
there  is  copper  and  silver,  and  where  a  hot  summer  ripens 
thoroughly  all  cereal  crops.  For  sportsmen  it  seems  a 
veritable  paradise.  The  pheasant  (or  at  least  his  brother) 
with  whom  we  have  long  been  conversant  as  dying  of  every 
disease  in  the  moist  coverts  of  England,  lives  wild  in  this 
dry  and  healthy  climate.  The  wild  boar  and  the  wolf,  the 
bear  and  many  forms  of  the  antelope  and  deer,  are  to  be 
found  on  the  borders  between  Siberia  and  China.  The 
rivers  are  full  of  salmon  and  other  fish  whose  names  I 
cannot  attempt  to  give. 

If  an  Englishman  were  asked  to  choose  whether  he 
would  live  in  St.  Petersburg  or  in  exile  at  Irkutsk,  he  would, 
I  believe,  have  no  doubt  in  deciding  in  favour  of  the  latter, 
if  —  and  that  is  a  great  if — the  spirit  of  man  were  not 
so  human  and  corrupt.  We  were  told  that  there  are  six 
hundred  women  who  are  divorced  in  the  jurisdiction  of 
Irkutsk.  Such  a  statement  indeed  seems  incredible,  but 
certainly  the  morals  of  the  oflQcers  leave  much  to  be  desired. 
Vices  go  in  flocks,  therefore  laziness  perhaps  accounts  for 
the  amazing  state  of  things  which  exists  in  Irkutsk.  The 
town  is  as  full  of  officers  as  Eton  is  of  boys.  Epaulettes 
jostle  you  in  the  streets,  you  tumble  over  swords  in  the 
restaurants,  and  with  all  this  force  at  the  disposal  of  the 
authorities — for  I  conclude  that  some  at  least  of  these 
officers  have  soldiers  under  them — the  streets  of  Irkutsk  are 
unsafe  after  dark.  Person  after  person  warned  us  of  the 
danger  of  being  unarmed  at  night,  at  any  rate  in  the  by- 
streets. People  are  murdered  in  their  own  houses  in  the 
suburbs ;  women  have  their  fur  coats  torn  off  their  backs. 
One  is  aghast  at  the  incredible  slackness  of  the  ithorities, 
who  instead  of  instituting  a  reasonable  police  force  such  as 
exists  even  in  Chinese  cities,  allow  the  city  to  be  watched 
at  night  by  aged  Dogberrys  in  huge  fur  coats  armed  with 


APPENDIX 


335 


rattles  which  they  use  incessantly.  Certainly,  though  they 
may  fail  to  frighten  away  robbers  with  this  primitive  weapon 
of  protection,  they  succeed  in  interrupting  the  slumbers  of 
the  visitor.  In  the  department  of  municipal  activity  the  town 
is  equally  badly  organised.  The  streets  were  under  snow, 
and  as  upon  a  hard-seated  sledge  we  leapt  from  hole  to 
hole,  we  had  at  least  the  comfort  of  realising  that  in  summer 
their  condition  must  be  even  more  trying. 

It  is  unsafe  to  trust  gossip,  but  I  give  it  for  what  it  is 
worth.  We  were  assured  that  the  only  reason  why  the 
priceless  wealth  which  Russia  possesses  in  the  gold  mines 
of  Siberia  was  not  further  developed  was  because  of  a 
similar  olBficial  incompetence.  There  is  said  to  be  a  great 
deal  of  secret  digging  for  gold.  Men  disappear  in  the 
summer  and  reappear  in  the  autumn  with  a  pound's  weight 
of  pure  gold,  for  the  gold  lies  only  about  three  metres  below 
the  ground.  But  if  this  primitive  form  of  mining  came  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  Government  it  would  put  in  force  the 
mining  laws  which  would  then  successfully  stifle  the  industry. 

It  is  needless  to  add  that  profligacy  and  laziness  are 
not  the  only  vices  against  which  Russian  Christianity  has 
to  contend.  Their  people  have  another  in  common  with 
ourselves  of  which  the  Church  is  only  too  well  aware  and 
which  it  is  making  great  efibrts  to  suppress,  namely, 
drunkenness.  Actually  on  our  journey  we  had  an  example 
of  this  vice  which  every  one  regarded  as  comic,  but  which 
might  have  been  tragic.  The  train  is  brought  suddenly  to  a 
standstill.  There  is  something  wrong.  Everybody  tumbles 
out  of  the  carriage  to  look.  A  man  is  lying  in  the  snow.  At 
first  it  is  thought  he  has  been  knocked  down  by  a  previous 
train.  Further  examination  shows  that  it  is  only  a  man 
dead  drunk  lying  right  across  the  line — the  result  of 
keeping  one  of  the  festivals  of  the  Church.  Every  one 
laughs ;  he  is  pulled  out  of  the  way,  we  climb  back  into  the 
train,  leaving  him  in  the  care  of  a  priest,  quite  unconscious 
how  near  he  has  been  to  death.  Drunkenness  is  a  terrible 
evil  in  our  own  land,  but  its  results  are  far  more  terrible  in 


336 


APPENDIX 


this  land  of  frost-bite.  There  are  numbers  of  people  with- 
out hands  and  feet  begging  in  the  street,  and  we  were  told 
that  the  general  cause  of  these  injuries  was  vodka.  A 
man  going  home  falls  into  a  drunken  sleep  on  the  way :  he 
awakes  next  morning  with  his  hands  and  feet  frost-bitten, 
or  perhaps  he  never  wakes  again :  the  sleep  of  drunkenness 
merges  into  the  sleep  of  death. 

As  one  considers  these  things  one  realises  why  the 
Buddhist  Bouriat  and  the  Mohammedan  Tartar  still  adhere 
to  their  ancient  faiths. 

I  do  not  think  an  Englishman  has  a  right  to  criticise 
other  nations  when  so  much  remains  to  be  done  at  home. 
Still  one  cannot  truthfully  say  that,  however  numerous  her 
churches  or  well-attended  her  services,  the  Orthodox  Church 
directs  Russia  while  she  is  powerless  to  make  headway 
against  these  vices. 

The  great  trials  through  which  Russia  has  passed  hold 
out  every  reason  to  hope  that  with  liberty,  purity  of  worship 
will  be  again  established,  and  where  there  is  purity  of  faith 
there  must  be  mission  work.  No  doubt  the  Government 
has  hindered  mission  work ;  in  fact,  they  have  forbidden  it 
in  China.  Christianity  was  to  them  so  much  the  hand- 
maid of  the  State  as  to  be  inconceivable  outside  the  State ; 
but  all  this  is  breaking  down.  The  great  mission  work 
conducted  in  Japan  to  which  I  have  before  referred  has 
shown  that  the  Orthodox  Church  grows  well  on  Eastern 
soil.  The  existence  of  a  village  preserving  the  Orthodox 
religion  in  the  middle  of  China  which  has  been  spoken  of 
above,  has  demonstrated  at  least  the  vitality  of  that  faith 
among  the  Chinese  nation.  When  the  Russian  missionaries 
cross  the  frontier  they  will  not  leave  their  own  country 
weaker,  but  their  work  will  be  a  token  that  Russia  is 
purifying  her  faith  and  is  advancing  along  the  road  that 
leads  to  holiness. 


INDEX 


A 

Abyssinia,  19G 
Accuracy  of  Chinese,  72 
Agnosticism,  301 
Agricultural  College,  280 
Aims  of  missionary  education,  257 
et  seq. 

Altar  of  Heaven,  142,  155 
America,  244,  254,  308 
American  Methodist  Mission,  198 
American  missions,  16,  192,  200,  217 
Americans,  234,  253  et  seq.,  277,  284 
Amita,  149,  150 
Amitobha,  149 
Amur,  The,  11 

Ancestor  worship,  153  et  seq.,  160,  161 
Ancestral  tablet,  159 
Anglican  Church  Conference,  215 
Anglicans,  216,  245  et  seq. 
Anglo-Saxon  race,  242 
Anson's  Law  of  Contract,  285 
Antung,  91 
Apocrypha,  221 

Apostles'  Creed,  defence  of,  200 

Apparatus,  290,  294 

Architecture,  137  et  seq.,  295 

Art,  Chinese,  137,  138 

Association    of    Christianity  with 

learning,  258  et  seq. 
Autocratic  government,  result  of,  199 


B 

Baikal  Lake,  333 

Balfour's  "  Defence  of  Philosophic 

Doubt,"  257 
Bamboo  rope,  85 
Bambooing,  66 
Beggar  Hospital,  227 
Belgium,  308 
Benedict  XIV.,  186 
Bible  Societies,  17 

Bible  Society,  British  and  Foreign, 
17,  198,  213 


Bible,  style  of,  181 

Blagovestchensk,  11 

Blair,  Mr. ,  236 

Blind,  Missions  to,  201  et  seq. 

Boone  College,  Wuchang,  308,  319 

Bouriat,  Buddhist,  336 

Boxer  Movement,  7,  9,  18,  156,  161, 

188,  269,  271,  274 
British  missions,  201  et  seq. 
Buddha,  149 

Buddhism,  148  et  seq.,  164,  170,  175, 

179  ct  seq.,  243,  248,  263,  269,  333 
Buddhist  temples,  45,  141 
Bull,  Papal,  186 
Butterfield  and  Swire,  79 


0 

Cambridge,  173,  312 
Canton,  113 

Canton  Women's  Hospital,  226 

Canton- Wuchang  Railway,  322 

Cantonese  dialect,  286 

Cassels,  Bishop,  201 

Centenary  Conference,  122,  125,  132, 

200,  210,  242  et  seq. 
Chair  travelling,  97 
Chang-Chih-Tung,  75,  152,  168,  208, 

218,  268  et  seq.,  321  et  seq. 
Changsha,  77  et  seq.,  167,  291 
Characters,  Chinese,  132,  181,  208 

et  seq. 
Chentu,  316 

Chicago  University,  212 
China  Emergency  Committee,  229 
China  for  the  Chinese,  216,  296 
China  Inland  Mission,  201 
China  Merchants'  boats,  62 
"  China's  Only  Hope,"  268 
Chinese  clergy,  174,  257,  259  et  seq., 
310 

Chinese-Japanese  War,  5,  268 
Christianity  in  China  tolerated,  45 

et  seq. 
Christie,  Dr.,  226 


337 


Y 


338 


INDEX 


Chu,  156,  179 
Chungking,  81 
Cliurch  of  England,  202,  203 
"  Church  in  China,"  242 
Church  Missionary  Society,  201 
Cities,  Chinese,  95  et  seq. 
Civilisation,  Chinese,  56  et  seq. 
Classics,  Chinese,  168,  207,  260,  270, 
301 

Cleanliness,  difficulty  with  Chinese, 
226 

Clergy,  Chinese,  174,  257,  25d  et  seq., 
310 

Cochrane,  Dr.,  226,  228  et  seq. 
Colleges,  254  et  seq.,  303,  308 
Commercial  power  of  China,  29 
Commercial  Press,  16,  215 
Commercial  School,  287 
Confucian  teaching,  73,  156,  159, 163 

et  seq.,  321,  323 
Confucianism,  148,  153  et  seq.,  163 

et  seq.,  175,  221,  243,  261 
Confucius,  41,  42,  59,  156,  163  et  seq., 

220,  300  et  seq. 
Copts,  196 

Corruption  of  Chinese,  62,  293 
Courtesy  of  Chinese,  70  et  seq. 
Cruelty  of  Chinese,  65  et  seq. 
Currency,  63  et  seq. 


D 

Dalai  Lama,  180 
Delamarre,  P^re,  47 
Diabolical  possession,  158 
Difficulties  of  education,  293  et  seq. 
Difficulties  of  translation,  208  et  seq. 
Director  of  Chinese  students,  172 
Director  of  education,  280  et  seq.,  295 
Discipline,  want  of,  2d7  et  seq. 
Divine  honours  to  Confucius,  301 
Dominicans,  186 
"Door  of  Hope,"  134 
Drugs,  Chinese,  224 
Dumas,  Dame  aux  Camdias,  218 
Duty  to  parents,  74,  174 


B 

Ede,  Mr.,  56 

Edict  against  opium,  117 

Edict,  educational,  271 

Edict  on  Confucius,  302 

Edict  on  official  rank  for  Roman 

Catholic  missions,  188,  189 
Edification  of  Christianity,  257  et  seq. 
Education,  253  et  seq. 


Education,  Committee  of,  312 
Education  of  preachers,  257  et  seq. 
Educational,  230,  231 
Educational  policy  in  China,  254 
et  seq. 

Emperor  of  China,  187,  275,  300 
Emperor  of  Korea,  76,  239 
Emperor  of  Russia,  331 
Emperor,  German,  309 
Empress  of  China,  the  late,  128 
Episcopal  Church  of  America,  256 
Ethics,  Chinese,  70  et  seq.,  220 
Evangelisation,  257  et  seq. 
Ezra,  59 

F 

"  Face,"  166, 167,  240,  298 
Famine  in  China,  56 
Fashion,  power  of,  33 
Fashions  in  China,  34 
Financial  difficulties  in  schools,  298 
et  seq. 

Foot-binding,  66,  124,  129,  130,  182 

Foster,  Mr.  Arnold,  125 

Foster,  Mrs.  Arnold,  3 

France,  foreign  policy  of,  24,  187, 

191,  221,  308 
Franciscan  Sisters,  68,  194 
French  officials,  184 
"  French  Peter,"  225,  226 
French  policy,  188 
French  ship,  197 

French,  the,  46,  186,  187,  188,  192, 

253 
Fukien,  50 

Q 

Gardens,  72 

Gardens,  public,  Shanghai,  102 

Gautama,  149 
Geography,  268 
Germans,  253 

Germany,  6,  18,  48,  49  et  seq.,  235 
Ghurkas,  25 
Gillieson,  Dr. ,  226 

Girls'  schools,  130  et  seq.,  289  et  seq.,  298 

Goforth,  Mr.,  240 

Gold  in  Siberia,  335 

Gorges  of  Yangtsze,  81  et  seq.,  201 

Gospel,  St.  Luke's,  comments  on,  214 

Gospel,  St.  Mark's,  Chinaman's  ac- 
quaintance with,  213 

Government  educational  systems, 
266  et  seq. 

Grand  Canal,  80 

Graves,  Bishop,  308 


INDEX 


339 


Greek  Church,  Chinese,  148,  336 
Green  Korean  coats,  233 
Grey,  Sir  Edward,  120,  210 


H 

Haeckel's  "Riddle  of  the  Universe," 

218,  263 

Haldane's      Pathway  to  Reality," 
257 

Hangchow,  223  et  seq. 
Hangchow,  monastery  at,  180 
Hankow,  78,  81,  89,  140,  174,  226, 

229,  316,  319 
Hanlin  scholars,  176  et  seq.,  267 
Han- Yang  Ironworks,  30 
Harbin,  315 

Hart,  Dr.  Lavington,  99 

Hashish,  108 

Heat  at  Saigon,  183,  184 

•'Heaven,"  156,  178,  179,  210 

Heaven,  Temple  of,  142 

Hewlett,  Consul,  167 

High  schools.  281 

Higher  schools,  272 

Hoang-ho  River,  56,  57 

Home  Board,  245 

Home  life,  Chinese,  135,  136 

Hong-Kong,  76,  103,  109,  183,  213, 

283,  303,  316 
Hunan,  77 

I 

Ichang,  68,  81,  85,  194 

Ideographs,  217 

Ignatius,  College  of  St.,  253 

India,  164,  244 

India,  comparison  with  China,  22,  23 

India,  home  of  opium,  114 

India,  Little,  180 

Indian  Buddhism,  180 

"Indiscreet  Letters  from  Peking,"  39 

Industry,  Chinese,  72 

Infant  schools,  271 

Inns,  Chinese,  89 

Intellectual  side  of  Christianity,  202 
Intonations,  Chinese,  309 
Irkutsk,  51,  329,  333  et  seq. 
Ironworks,  Han- Yang,  30 
Ito,  Prince,  232,  235 
Iwolsky,  M.,  329  et  seq. 

J 

Jackson,  Mr.,  256 

Japan,  50,  121,  126,  149,  160  et  seq., 


I      170,  204,  210,  263,  283,  325,  329, 
330 

Japan  and  Korea,  5,  232  et  seq. 
Japan  and  Russia,  12,  23,  49  et  seq. 
Japanese,  61 

Japanese,  re  opium,  115,  116 
Japanese  teachers,  131,  280  et  seq., 
295 

Jarlin,  Monseigneur,  3 
Jessfield  College,  308,  312 
Jesuits,  185,  186,  253,  258 
Jesuits,  scientific  attainments  of, 
185,  195 

Jesuits,  suppression  of,  in  China, 
186 

Jews,  Chinese,  148 
John,  Father,  330 
Jordan,  Sir  John,  120 


K 

Kiauchau,  6,  48,  51,  91,  92 

King,  Consul,  176 

Kins,  26 

Kiukiang,  97 

Korea,  76,  232  et  seq. 

Korea  and  Japan,  5,  12,  232  et  seq. 

Korean  women,  233 

Kow-tow,  300 

Kwangchangtzu,  318 

Kwannin,  149,  150 


L 

Lamaism,  15,  149,  248 

Languages,  School  of,  292 
Laotze,  151 
Laudanum,  112  et  seq. 
Law  Schools,  277,  283 
Lawsuits,  Chinese,  191,  192 
Lawsuits,  interference  in,  189  et  seq. 
Leavening  of  public  opinion,  257 
et  seq. 

Legation,  British,  141 

Legge's,  Dr.,  Chinese  Classics,  179 

Leper  Hospital,  227 

Likin,  58 

Literati,  Chinese,  177,  185,  203,  321 
Literature,  effect  of  Western,  207 
et  seq. 

Literature  Society,  Christian,  16,  168, 

212 
Lolos,  27,  68 

London  Mission,  198,  201 
Louis  XIV.,  187 
Lutherans,  256 


340 


INDEX 


M 

Macklin,  Dr.,  67,  227 

Main,  Dr.  Duncan,  223  et  seq. 

Maios,  27 

Manchu  ladies,  130,  131 

Manchuria,  12,  51,  53,  90  et  seq.,  204. 

232  et  seq. 
Manchus,  25,    176,   185,   279,  292. 

818 

Mandarin-speaking,  285,  286 

Manicbaeism,  151;  152 

Martin,  Professor,  296 

Materialism,  Western,  171,  305  et  seq. 

Medical  missions,  220  et  seq. 

Mencius,  177 

Methodist  colleges,  308 

Methodists,  238 

Middle  schools,  272 

Mih-Tieh,  174 

Military  power  of  China,  24,  25 
Ming  dynasty,  2G,  185 
Mission  Press,  212 

Missions,  183  et  seq.,  198  et  seq.,  220 
et  seq.,  253  et  seq.,  305  et  seq. 

Missions  Catholiques  Frangaises,  Les, 
188 

Modesty,  lack  of,  in  Japanese,  233 
Mohammedans,  Chinese,  148 
Mongolia,  51,  213 
Mongols,  26 

Monotonous  employment,  love  of,  73 
Moral  power  of  China,  32 
Morrison,  Dr.,  15,  17,  198,  208 
Moule,  Archdeacon,  4,  137,  198,  298 
Moule,  Bishop,  198 
Movement  in  Korea  and  Manchuria, 

232  et  seq. 
Mukden,  91,  226,  318 
Mukden,  battle  of,  5,  13 
Murray,  Dr.,  230 
Mutiny,  54 

N 

Nanking,  53,  67,  92,  297  et  seq. 
Nanking,  hospital  at,  227 
Nanking,  interviews  at,  172  et  seq. 
Napoleon  I.,  187 
Napoleon  III.,  47 

Native  ministry,  257,  259  et  seq., 
310 

Naval  school,  52,  287 
Need  of  University  explained,  305 
et  seq. 

Nestorians,  15,  149,  150,  248 
Newchwang,  8,  205 
North  China  Mission,  203 


O 

Obedience  of  Chinese,  61 
Obedience  to  parents,  74 
Observatory  Ziccawei,  195 
Official  rank  for  Koman  Catholic 

Missions,  188,  189,  191 
Officials,  Chinese,  167,  172,  283,  299, 

317 

Officials,  French,  184 
Old,  reverence  for  the,  321 
0-mi-to,  149 
Opium,  107  et  seq. 
Opium,  edict  against,  117 
Opposition  to  Western  materialism, 

258  et  seq. 
Organisation  of  Chinese  Government, 

60 

Orientals,  36  et  seq.,  61 
Orphanages,  Roman  Catholic,  193, 
194,  264 

Orthodox  Church  of  Russia,  244,  245, 

330  et  seq. 
Oxford  and  Cambridge,  173,  312 

P 

Pagodas,  141 

Pao-ting-fu,  7,  276 

Pastor  Hsi,  158 

Patience  of  Chinese,  72 

Patriarchate,  the,  331 

Pei-Yang  University,  276 

Peking,  Blind  Mission  at,  229 

Peking  Gazette,  168 

Peking,  interviews  at,  319  ct  seq. 

Peking,  Lama  Temple  at,  180 

Peking,  Methodist  University,  308 

Peking,  missions  at,  203 

Peking,  Mongol  Temple  at,  150,  180 

Peking,  Roman  Catholics  at,  197 

Peking,  sack  of,  10 

Peking  to  Canton  railway,  89 

Peking,  Union  Hospital  at,  226 

Peking  University,  291,  300 

Pe-T'ang,  the,  140 

Physical   science   uninteresting  to 

Chinese,  182 
Pidgin  English,  22 
Pitt,  187 

Pobiedonosteff,  M.,  330 
Police,  different  nationalities  of,  101 
Port  Arthur,  5.  204 
Post-offices,  103  et  seq. 
Pott,  Dr  Hawks,  312 
Poverty  in  China,  221 
Preparation  of  secular  teachers,  257 
et  seq. 


INDEX 


341 


Presbyterians  and  their  missions,  69, 

198,  201,  204,  235  et  seq. 
Press,  the,  168 
Primary  schools,  272 
Procurator  of  Holy  Synod,  321  et  seq. 
Pyeng-Yang,  5,  235  et  seq. 


Q 

Queen  of  England,  the  late,  128 
Queen  of  Korea,  murder  of  the,  76, 
234 

R 

RaDways,  88  et  seq. 

Rapids  of  Yangtsze,  82  et  seq. 

"Reason,"  178,  179 

Red  boat,  82,  85 

Reformation,  the,  246 

Religions  of  China,  147  et  seq. 

Religious  Tract  Society,  212 

Renaissance,  the,  260 

Rescue  work,  133  et  seq. 

"  Review  of  the  Times,"  the,  212 

Revival,  236  et  seq. 

Ricci,  Father,  185 

Richard,  Dr.  Timothy,  203,  212,  274 

et  seq. 
Rickshas,  98 
Ritual,  246 
Rivers,  80  et  seq. 

Roman  Catholic  missions,  183  et  seq., 
203 

Roman  Catholics,  46,  47,  148,  213, 

243,  258,  292 
Roman  Church,  policy  of,  192,  243, 

244 

Romanised  system  of  reading,  132 

Rome,  appeal  to,  186 

Roofs,  Chinese,  142,  143 

Roots,  Bishop,  256 

Ross,  Dr.,  113,  178,  318 

Russia  and  Japan,  23,  49  et  seq.,  163 

Russia  in  mission  field,  329 

Russia,  Orthodox  Church  of,  244,  330 

et  seq. 
Russians,  204  et  seq. 
Russo-Japanese  War,  11  et  seq.,  163 


8 

Saigon,  183,  184 
Saigon,  Bishop  of,  184 
Saigon,  climate  of,  184 
St.  Augustine,  166 


St.  Petersburg,  51,  329,  330 
Sanscrit  MS.,  180 
Scandinavian  Missions,  203 
Scheme,  United  Universities,  312  et 

seq.,  317  et  seq. 
School  uniform,  175,  283 
School,  Viceroy's,  175  et  seq. 
Schools,  253  et  seq. 
Schools  in  England,  173 
Schools  in  Nanking,  173  et  seq. 
Scotch,  the,  69,  234 
Scott,  Bishop,  203 
Secondary  wives,  123  et  seq. 
Seoul,  77,  233  et  seq. 
Shanghai,  36,  76,  95,  105,  113,  126, 

129,  133,  140,  225,  291 
Shansi,  6,  18,  49,  110,  274 
Shantung,  6,  18,  92,  303 
Shi-King,  207 
Shintoism,  163,  170 
Shops,  Chinese,  96  et  seq. 
Shu-yuen,  261 

Siberia,  25,  148,  329,  333  et  seq. 
Silk  Guild,  95,  287 
Slanders  against  missions,  194 
Slave  Refuge,  126 
Slaves,  126  et  seq. ,  323 
Solidarity  of  Chinese,  60 
Songs  of  trackers,  84 
Soochow,  University  at,  308 
Soothm,  Mr.,  275 
Spencer,  Herbert,  263 
S.P.G.,  a  via  media,  202 
S.P.G.  Mission,  202 
"  Spirit,"  210 
Sprue,  225,  226 
Squeeze,  293,  294 
Starvation  common,  222 
Streets,  Chinese,  97  et  seq. 
Strikes  in  schools,  297  et  seq. 
Summer  Palace,  sack  of,  46 
Sund  Fo,  25 

"Superior  man,"  177,  178 
Superior  schools,  273 
Superstition,  156,  157  et  seq. 
Supreme  Being,  155,  156,  220 
Synod  of  Russian  Church,  331  et  seq, 
Szechuan,  88,  92 


T 

Tablet  of  Confucius,  300  et  seq. 
T'ang-K'ai-Sun,  His  Excellency,  116 
Taoism,  151  et  seq.,  164, 175,  181,  243, 

269 

Tartar,  Mohammedan,  336 
Temple  of  Heaven,  142,  155 


3+2 


INDEX 


Teuton  mind,  246 
Theatres,  272 
Tibetans,  25,  114 

Tientsin,  28,  36,  38,  51,  91,  93,  95,  99, 

166,  276 
Tokio,  306 

Tong-Sbao-Yi,  His  Excellency,  41,318 
Tonkin,  17 

Torture  of  medical  missionary,  205 
Trackers  on  Yangtsze,  83,  86,  87 
Trans-Siberian  Railway,  21,  204,  329 
Travelling,  comfort  in,  21 
Treaties,  46,  47,  188 
Tuan-Fang,  His  Excellency,  173  et 

seq.,  279 
Turkey,  164 

U 

Union  Hospital,  226 
United  States,  200 

United  Universities  Scheme,  312  et 
seq.,  Sn  et  seq. 

Unity  in  China,  242 

Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge, 312 

Universities  in  Soochow  and  Peking, 
308 

University,  Paris  Professor,  193 
University,  Pei-Yang,  276 
University  of  Oxford,  311 
University  government,  303 
University  government  system,  273 
University  in  Chentu,  316 
University  in  China,  94,  172,  175, 
263 

University  in  Hong-Kong,  286,  303 
University  in  Peking,  291,  304 
University  in  Shansi,  274  et  seq. 
University  in  Tokio,  306 

V 

Viceroy  of  Nanking,  173  et  $eq. 


Vices,  Chinese,  62 
Virtues,  Chinese,  72 


W 

WaU,  Gi  .at,  26 
Wang,  Mr.,  276 
War  in  1840,  188 
Weihsien,  308 
Wenli,  208 

Wesleyan  movement,  241 
West  and  East,  36  et  seq. 
Western  civilisation,  two  elements 

of,  218,  325  et  seq. 
Wheelbarrows,  101 
Williamson,  Dr.,  16 
Willow  pattern  from  Hangchow  Lake, 

228 

Women,  Chinese,  102,  121  et  seq. 
Word-signs,  210  et  seq.,  215 
Wuchang,  291,  292,  323 


X 

Xavier,  St.  Francis,  15 


Y 

Yale  University  Mission,  313 
Yamen,  71. 167,  173,  176,  182,  246,  318 
Yang  and  Yin,  121,  151,  152 
Yang  Choo,  307 
Yangtsze,  island  on,  193 
Yangtsze-Kiang,  53,  54,  62,  73,  81 

et  seq.,  118,  126 
Yuan-Shi-Kai,  His  Excellency,  274 
Yunnan,  92 

Z 

Zenana  work,  131 

Ziccawei  Observatory,  195,  196 


Printed  by  Ballanttne,  Hanson  6*  Co. 
Edinburgh  6*  London 


Date  Due 

_  _  i 

PRINTED 

IN  U.  S.  A. 

BW8221  .C38 
Changing  China 

liliii^  ^^'"'"^''y-Speer  Library 

1  1012  00045  3904 


